Taking Down Wallpaper Sucks!

It seems as if there are two layers of wallpaper to scrape off. Our contractor is coming tomorrow to demo. the bathroom and I have nothing done. I can't even find the scraper that Hubby claims we have, and I am not going out in this 1 degree weather for a scraper!

I'm moving into the male bathroom, oh joy!, and I haven't moved anything at all. I am dreading the whole process. It will take three to four weeks to complete. I know it will be like when we gutted the kitchen. I will love it when its done, but for now it's a pain in the ass!

The Cutest Thing

What's the cutest thing that my boys have ever said to each other? Today S. said to Tot,"Tot, you're my best friend. I love you." Tot then said,"I love you S.", and they hugged. Things like that make me feel even luckier to have them.

Are They Kidding Me!

For the past two days I have been dealing with Charter One Bank. See my lovely MIL set up a savings account for S. there three years ago. She felt he should have his own savings account at a bank we never even had our own accounts at! She's nuts. Her insanity is a gift that keeps on giving, I tell ya'! Anyway, I finally got around to closing that account in December which had its own share of problems of which I won't bore you! I closed out that account in person on December 20th; the branch manager closed it and told me there would be no further problems. Yeah, right! The first week of January I got a notice saying I was in default by, grip your chairs, SIX CENTS. Oh, and I better pay up because if I don't, they are sending me to collections. Over my dead body you morons!

I called the customer service line, and even the lady on the other line could not believe it. She said,"We spent more on the stamp to send you the notice than the money we're trying to collect!" How true, how true! She promised to rectify the issue.

Picture getting a letter from CHARTER ONE yesterday telling me since I have not paid, I have been sent to collections. Any questions, call 800-yada-yada. Yep, you bet I called! I talked to a wonderful man but the name of Pete who also could not believe the stupidity of the situation. He told me the bank had paid $140 to have me sent to collections over six lousy cents. He also said he is going to include this one in the book he's writing about banking. He was then able to verify that my account balance was reconciled. However, my account was still in collections. He gave me another number to yet another division of CHARTER ONE. This not so nice woman said that,"Yes, we sent you to collections. Your account is 45 days past due." Which it's not people. I closed it a MONTH ago. At any rate, so now I'm pretty pissed off. I'm through being nice. I then am given the number to the DDR Recovery Center which is in charge of accounts that are put in collections. Well, guys, I spoke to Diane and I can tell you one thing. Diane is a bitch.

This Diane kept telling me that all of the others were wrong. They don't send people to collections for six cents. Anything under fifty dollars they don't bother with. I said to her,"Well, I have been told by three different people at your company that I have indeed been sent to collections." We kept going around around in circles. Finally, I said to her,"I would like a letter sent to my house verifying that it was your company's fault I was sent to collections. That I never had a defaulted account." You know, all of their lovely letters told me this would negatively impact my credit rating, therefore I wanted proof that I could show to whomever I needed to that the particular item on my credit report is/was NOT MY FAULT. UGH! Diane told me it would take a week to get here. Guess who'll be calling Diane back next Thursday if it's not.

Embarrassing!

So, as most of you know, I am finally able to get a new bathroom that resembles more the 2000's and less of the 80's! Anyway, this requires going to pick out tile, faucets and the like. We went on Saturday to try to find something we, cough cough,I liked. Since our contractor recommended L*we's, we decided to go there after dinner and a few other errands. L*we's was last on our list since it is the closest to our house.

The boys were so excited that we were able to find one of those race car-like carts. They were so excited they barely noticed us moving into the tile department. Hubby and I compared pretty much every tile and were having such a hard time finding one that we liked. We did put a few in our cart to take home and see if they looked any better in our light. We were so entrenched in looking at tiles that we didn't hear the,"15 minutes 'till closing," message over the intercom, nor did we hear the one that the store had closed! It's a good thing that our boys suddenly decided that they did not care to look at more tile, and started bothering each other, which resulted in screaming, or they might never have found us! I was so embarrassed, but Hubby wasn't. Being that I worked in retail all through college, I remember how pissed off my colleagues and I would get when people wouldn't flippin' leave! They left one check-out line open for us, and then locked the doors behind us.

The ironic thing is that we didn't even like any of the tile there. After church on Sunday, we ended up going to The T*le Shop where the assistant manager spent a lot of time helping me to select the perfect combination of tiles for our bathroom. I guess the lesson of all this is to make sure you look at the store hours listed on the doors. If we had, we would have noticed that L*we's closes at 9:00PM, not 10:00 like H*me D*pot. Lesson learned.

A Blue Ocean in the Old Tub

Good news! I'm getting a NEW bathroom!!! So, until I get the new tub, I am putting different food coloring in the bathtub. This week we used blue. We pretended the boys were in the ocean complete with toy fish and turtles. We had a great time, and the boys can't wait to see what color the bathtub will be next. (BTW, it won't red:)

Too Good To Be True?

Today we went to the library with some friends of ours. My boss at my former job recently retired and now volunteers at the library. I ran into her, and she called me over. She said in her 'boss-tone', "Formerteacher, I don't know if you know this..." Guys, I thought she was going to say there was an opening in the school district, and would I like to apply for it. My heart stopped. I felt excited in a way that I haven't in a while. I think I would have taken the job if it was offered to me. I feel somewhat bad about this, but I miss my job. I really do. There were a lot of pitfalls, but it is hard to remember those when you're wiping your kid's ass, you know. For the first time, I thought to myself that I could make it work. I could find child-care. I have been pondering the question if my depression is worse because I'm not working and fulfilling my creative side? Is it because I feel unstimulated and sometimes bored? I do believe that what I do is important. I know it is, but I still feel as if I'm losing who I am.

I'm somebody's mother, somebody's wife...but other than that, who am I? I feel like I haven't been myself in a long time. I think it started about the time of our infertility diagnoses. I felt as if my body wasn't my own. I had to tell said boss what was going on, because I had to be late sometimes. I felt that my femininity was taken away because I couldn't get pregnant. THEN when I did get pregnant, my body wasn't my own. Little did I know that my body wasn't ever going to be the my own again! I then became some body's mother, and we all know how life changes after that. Your kids come first. Now as my husband is still at work, and it takes an hour to get home, I continue my work as a mother without a break. I know my husband's work is very important, and his company has been very good to us, but sometimes I feel like I have given up everything. Right now I feel like the babysitter. Hubby can stay late because he has me. I enable him to advance in his career while mine languishes. He acknowledges this, but really what can he do about it? Sometimes I feel as if I am stuck, frozen. My life never changes.

***On a funnier note my son just spelled a word. He said, "T-I-T." Yep, that's my boy! I couldn't really tell him it wasn't a word, because it sort-of is. Luckily he didn't ask.

Erasure

This year we have decided to switch banks, which we've wanted to do for a very long time. At any rate, my name on my driver's license includes my maiden name, which I LOVE, and also my married name. Kind of like: Jane Jones Smith. I have had my name on my credit card listed the same way. In fact, my credit card has been issued since 1995, at this bank. (I believe in maintaining your own credit separately). Well, guys my maiden name has been taken off of everything. I feel like the 'real me' is becoming invisible. I know I'm the same person, but keeping my maiden name made me feel like part of 'me' still existed. The part that came before children and marriage. I felt like an individual, and now I feel part of me bleeding into my husband. I feel like I'm being erased again. I know it's silly, but that's the way I feel.