Worst Week...

I am sorry for the lack of posts recently. I have been off from work, not watching tv, not blogging, not looking or responding on the internet...NOTHING but removing EVERYTHING from my FLOODED basement!!!

Before I go on talking about my worst week, I would like to stop for a moment and say things could be 1 million times worse than what they are and everyone is healthy which is the important things in life...which does lead me to a prayer request for Jodi's niece, Sammi. You can read more of her story on Jodi's blog, but for the few of you who read my blog and not Jodi's, please keep a 16 year old BEAUTIFUL (both inside and out) girl in your prayers as she is fighting Hodgkins Lymphoma. Thanks!

I got home on Monday evening...pushed Ash on the swings, got Alli to ride her bike, saw that the baby birds on my front door had hatched...all good until I walked down stairs to my room and my feet were wet. I thought maybe the kids had spilled something, but was too wet for that. Looked up and everything was dry, then realized that the water was coming from below. NOT GOOD!!! Let's just make a VERY long story short and say that we do not live in a flood zone, we have never had any issues with water, so we have no FLOOD insurance. Yes, I am a licensed insurance agent who does know that this is not covered on your standard home owners policy, but in my defense, who has money to throw away every year on flood insurance for a home that does not flood...well, so I thought.

By Tuesday morning there was standing water and it has just gotten worse. My living room, bedroom, and "catch all" (a.k.a. the pit) are all down there. When I say living room, I mean living room, not family room. My only couch is down there. When I say bedroom, I mean MY bedroom, filled with my stuff and my closet with LOTS on the floor. So i have spent hours and hours bringing things up. Not as easy as you think. You can not rest ANYTHING on the floor or it just gets worse. You can not tromp through the basement and then up the stairs or you spread the water with you...oh wait, too late it has been spread. Currently the water is about 3 inched above the carpet and padding and rising...even with pumps going. There is NOTHING anyone (including myself) can do, but let it flood.

I think that is the hardest part for me. I like to react. I am a doer. Things happen and I want to fix them. I think that is the lesson that I am suppose to learn in this situation. I don't have control and I can not fix everything. It is very hard to see a basement that we spent so much money and time doing being destroyed and not being able to make it better...at least a little. To know that we have to do it ALL over again and to know that the finances just are not there is very depressing. It just makes me sick to my stomach. A girls home is her home. It is also my families, but not in the same way it is mine. I maintain it, I decorate it, I take it from house to home so to see it like this...very sad!

So bare with me, I may be a little emotional and ramble about nothing. My poor mom, sister and husband... I would "clean" up something and take a break and call them. It is just yucky!!!

I try to remind myself it is just a basement...what is the big deal if we sleep in the laundry room for the next few years??? At elast we have a place to sleep, right? Isaac is already looking at the positives as well...he wanted to know if he could "slip and slide in the basement". Jimmy just laughed...he was thinking the same thing!!!

Soccer, Baby

This weekend was our first soccer game of the season. Let me just say...it was terrific!!!! What a difference a year makes...that and the weather was very nice. Isaac did not play last year, but was ready and willing this year. Allison is not as fast, or as big as the other kids, but seems to hold her own and does very well at goalie. Hopefully rest of the season goes this well!!!

Jimmy also had his first race of the year, too bad he blew up his engine during practice. Easy come, easy go right? Anyone want to sponsor a $25,000 motor????

It's That Time of the Year....

Yes, it is that time of year again when I NEVER see my husband. Between work (spring is CRAZY) and RACING...he is kind of a figment of our imaginations! What can you do? Hate it or learn to deal with it and try to be happy that he is doing something that he loves. Yesterday was his first day of practice and he said the car "felt pretty good". Thanks to my GREAT photographer friend, Dirk, for the pictures.

Happy Easter

A few of my favorite pictures from Easter. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Yes, she can do it!!!!

With a little peer pressure from her 3 year old cousin, Allison learned to ride a bike on Easter. Isaac has been riding a 2-wheeler for a few years now, but Allison, she is another story. It took Jimmy holding on to the back of the bike while she got on and that is about it. She took off...crying the whole time. She didn't need Jimmy, she was doing it ALL on her own, but continued to cry that she was scared. CRAZY girl...issues...kind of like her mom:)! Needless to say, she did it and we could not be more proud. Ashley thinks she is going to do it this weekend...we will see!!!

Way to go BIG girl!!!!

Ya Whooo....

Kaos Motorsports made its debut this past weekend in the opening race of CRA in Indiana at Anderson Speedway and we WON!!!! Way to go team Kaos!!!! It is good to know that crazy chaos can make a great KAOS racing team. Great job guys!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Baby Girl

We had a semi great day on Tuesday...it was my baby girls 4th birthday, but a very high fever rotten day for Allison. My sweet, crazy, living up to the spit-fire red hair baby girl had a fantastic day. We went to crazy bounce with my girls and all of their children, followed by lunch at McDonalds. It was a lot of fun, but I felt like I was missing something...I think it was my other baby girl Allsion. She spent the day with her Dad doing basically anything she wanted. They started the day at McDonalds eating milkshakes. She had not eaten well so I thought there are a lot of calories in a milkshake...go with it. They then went to the animal store, to Toys R Us to buy a barbie and to Bob Evan's for pancakes. It is probably a VERY good thing that we never had an only child. She got home and got worse so we went to the doctors...high temp 104 after advil and a postive strep. Ashley was such a big girl waiting very patiently for us to get home so she could have cake, ice cream and open presents. We cancelled with Grandma, Poppy, Aunt Jodi and her clan just to make sure everyone stayed healthy. Ashley is one of those kids that is "all about her" so to give up the party all about her on her birthday was a very big girl thing to do. See was OK with everything and said she had the "most fabulous day of her life". I can relate, April 7, 2005 at 8:40 pm was the most fabulous day of my life (take 3)!!! Thanks Ashley for living up to the red hair requirements and for making every day an adventure....to say the least!!! Yeah, no more 3 year olds!!!!

Stupid People

OK, let me first say, my mom raised me right, I am not one to call people stupid. BUT there are times when stupid is actually a really nice word to use for these people. About three weeks ago, I get a phone call from my husband telling me that someone has used his Great Lakes Salt Co debt card to the tune of $3000. What??? He assures me that he never had the debt card and the money would be put back in the account. The fraud department at Fifth Third and the Michigan State Police were on it. It must have been mail fraud. Throughout the day, my husband realized that he indeed did have the card (at one time) and that someone stole it out of his safe at work. Keep in mind, this safe is under his desk, so to get to it, you basically have to climb under his desk. If the door is not pushed in all the way, it does not lock...in case you were wondering:)! Even better.....not!!! How do you go to work everyday with people you do not trust. Even better news the bill was up to $18,000 and because it was in his possession, it was not longer a State Police matter, he would have to start all over with Wyoming City Police. Fast forward about 3 weeks and the police finally did something. In their defense, it takes awhile to get camera footage and go through it, but come one!!! We open the mail to see an actual list of the spending habits of the thief, where they shopped, how often, and what they spent. Let me just say, I thought I was going to puke!!! In 18 days, these people managed to spend $30,355.13!!! ALL ATM with drawls and debt card purchases, which means no credit card protection. The first day alone, they used it at 8 ATM's for over $1500. At this point, I believe Fifth Third should have noticed. Jimmy has had this account for a year and wrote 4 checks...TOTAL!!! On one day they shopped at the same Meijers 8 times and another Meijers 6 times for over $3000. Honestly, STUPID PEOPLE!!!! Good news, a lot of these places have video!!! Sam's Club takes a pictures of EVERYONE that uses a credit/debt card.
Well, come to find out it was actually a guy and his girl friend from the cleaning company. He worked for the cleaning service one whole day!!! Nice!! The owner of the cleaning company identified the people and the police gave them a call. The girl came in right away, signed a confession and turned on the boyfriend. The boyfriend, who obviously is not smart and may I say VERY STUPID, has not come in. So now a warrant for his arrest has been made and we will have to see what happens. Fifth Third has put the money back into the account...for now. The owner of the company who would have had coverages to cover this under his insurance policy (that he gave a copy of to my husband...good thing when your wife is your insurance agent!), but no, he let his insurance lapse...again with the stupid people. Sorry!!! We did nothing wrong, and I will NOT be out $30, 355.13. And the story continues...

Stupid people take two! We get a call from Allison's soccer coach last weekend telling us when soccer is going to start and such and Jimmy mentions something about Isaac and the coach nicely says "I don't have Isaac on my team". What? The coach gives out the number to S, who runs the program and suggest he talk to her. Jimmy calls her and they have a discussion. She asks him if we asked for a "special arrangement to be made". Jimmy says no that they are twins, same age, same house, same check for payment that was all stapled together. Their policy has ALWAYS been to keep siblings on the same team, I would say twins are siblings!! Now let me back up and say that having twins, especially boy girl twins tends to lead to a lot of questions...stupid ones most of the time. People have a hard time wrapping their brains around boy/ girl twins, they really think they need to be the same sex and 90% of people assume they are boy twins. Not sure why that is. It has gotten a lot better the older they get, which is probably why this bothered us so much. Prior to this question, the absolute stupidest question we have been asked is "Are they identical?" One is a boy and one is a girl, albeit a small difference, but at the same time, a very major difference in "identicalness". So the lady precede to tell my husband that they do not make special arrangements for families and Jimmy says "you just asked me if I did and besides, they are twins, they should be together, they are twins!" Her response "Do they have the same last name?" OK, I will not tell you Jimmy's response, let's just say, that was a VERY STUPID QUESTION!!!! She ended the conversation with there was nothing they could do, they do not make exceptions and twins are not on the same team. Jimmy wanted his money back and she told him it was non-refundable. Three days later, she called back sweet as pie telling me everything was taken care of and there were no problems and they are on the same team. Can you say bipolar???? Oh well, at least I am not running two kids to different practices alone. This is Jimmy's busy season...we don't see much of him:(!

One last STUPID thing, this time it is not a person or question, but a bird (s). If you remember last year, I had a bird make a nest in my hanging baskets on the porch. I take it to heart...having to protect the mama and her babies. I take it personally that she felt she could be a good mama at my house. I know, I am crazy, it is nothing new to hear...my sister and husband have been reminding me all weekend. So Saturday morning, I hear this noise on at my door and see two birds flying around. Those STUPID birds decided to make a nest in the wreath hanging on my front GLASS door. Again, I will remind these birds of the three chaos children, the golden retriever BIRD dog, and the cat. Honestly!!

The science lesson in the making. My husband had to be in Ohio this weekend while all of this was going on. My dad told me just to move the wreath and problem solved. BUT, I could not do that, they had been working all day on it. Jimmy came home and told the kids they were not allowed to use the front door for a few weeks. Love that man:)!!!!!!

Happy {Preschool} Birthday Ashley and Ryan

Yes, she is my daughter, sitting in front of the class all lady like and such!!!

Love these kids!!! Have a great {REAL} birthday Ryan and Ashley!!!!