When the Lights Went Out....

When both of the lights that are under the microwave went out last night, I sent myself to my room. You might be thinking that is just so silly, but really it was the final Grrrrr.....for me. Let's do a six month review to explain me enforcing my own time out.

Chaz retired in January. Of course nothing was as easy as they promised. Our move was denied. Our postage was denied. WTB wanted to charge us $600 for our apartment. It was one thing after another. We finally get to leave and arrive home that Sunday to our beloved Arf. Our precious 10 year old Yorkie had gone into congestive heart failure just days before we arrived and now was entering his last days. We made the hard choice and had to put him to sleep. The next day he was buried on our new land. We had our "ground breaking" six months ago today. On that day the girls and I walked to the back of the land and told Arf good-bye.

We had immediately entered all the VA in-processing fun as soon as we arrived home. We were so bogged down in VA things we barely had time to grieve for the dog and an even bigger shocker happened. We get the news that one of our friends committed suicide. He was gone and left behind a beautiful family and it still breaks my heart.

Then Chaz had a flesh eating bacteria invade his body and had to be hospitalized, required surgery and was going to need a PICC line. Just days after the surgery, we get the news our dear friend, Derek had passed away. I stood in Chaz's hospital room just crying because I wasn't at Walter Reed to help Derek's family.

The day after I received the news about Derek, girls and I traveled to DC/MD while my mom took care of Chaz. That was such a hard trip to take. Chaz was supposed to have traveled with us to get his legs that had been ordered in November, but didn't arrive until after we had left. Of course they wouldn't let me have them. They had to do this that and the other. Now looking back I am glad they didn't give them to me because at the time the VA still had not granted Chaz's prosthetic adviser permission to work on X2s yet. We filed for it in January and they poor guy didn't get the permission slip until June and by then Chaz had used his GWOT privilege and got them fixed at Walter Reed when he joined me in June.

Ok back to March, I was working, taking care of the girls and trying to help our friends. It was such an exhausting trip. I got home and jumped into 3 PICC line treatments per day. Luckily our girls were on Spring break from homeschool during the "Daddy is sick again" phase. About the time we got his PICC down homeschool restarted. Then I was back to DC/MD for more work. (So thankful to have such a great job that I love so much). I had to work out more care arrangements and that's when things started breaking.

Here's the list. Please note all are separate occasions. I know I am forgetting so much, but oh well....

• HVAC outside unit locked up.
• HVAC unit in attic froze up.
• Both garden hoses had ruined. We found out the hard way they had to be replaced. 
• Had a recall on my car.
• The bolt holding down the ramp to the concrete at the top is stripped and isn't holding it down anymore. 
• Chaz broke a piece off of his wheelchair
• Then the chair portion wore out.
• One of the prosthetic legs (that the VA wouldn't give the guy permission to work on) broke.
• The other leg started locking up randomly. 
• HVAC outside unit crapped out again. 
• Upstairs toilet had to have the kit replaced. Then a plumber had to be called in because the shut off valve was so old it had to be helped.  
• Found hail damage to the girls' window screens. 
• Found a leak under the kitchen sink. Determined it was the garbage disposal. It was repaired. 

Now let's get to the week that led me to time out.

First there was this....

Chaz's leg locked on him causing him to fall into the door. After rushing to see if he was ok and confirming he was, I immediately asked if he punched the door. He laughed and pointed out that if he punched the door the tint would not have saved it. He is totally right. ;) I looked at the door to see his whole arm left a mark in the glass.

If you look closely at the picture you'll see he is just walking right along. We are so thankful for my brother tinting that glass. Chaz could have easily fallen through all that glass and had been seriously injured. Thanks to the help of the neighbor, I got the glass out (yes it was a huge mess) and put the screen in for a temporary fix. (Yes to answer your question, we'll need a new glass door.) Then then kitchen faucet just stops working. Hello another plumber call. Faucet had to be replaced. Then he looks and the garbage disposal is leaking again. Now it has to be replaced. Chaz lets the guy check the rest of the house to determine we'll need a new water heater and new toilet within six months.

The day before all of this I filed a claim with our homeowner's insurance. After looking at the window screens, I found cracks and holes in our vinyl siding on three sides of our house. (There's no telling what I cannot see.) I bet now you can see why when the lights went out on the microwave, I just had to go to my room.

Why am I whining about this? Well to be honest, just get it all out. It just seems like when it rains it pours. The past six months have just been so stressful. Today I am putting my big girl panties on and getting all the whines out of me. I am going to make a list with an attack plan and get it all done.

I am declaring that things are going to start going our way. I am not going to allow all these little hassles to way us down. Great things are in store for us, I just know it. Today is another beautiful day and why not pick today as the day to forget about all the hassles and focus on the positive!

Alright time to go make that list and start attacking it!!