3 Roosters and a Chick

Ok so I know it has been a while but things have been a little crazy.  As most of you know I got laid off about a month ago due to poor sales at Pinnacle.  I am currently out there looking for a new job but is going slow.  I am trying to be patient and know that God will take care of us, but am just getting a little anxious.  Other than that things are going good.  Michael is almost through with school and scouts for the year.  He had field day a couple of weeks ago and he had a blast.  I was able to attend and it was fun to watch.  Here are a couple of pictures:

Michael has also finished with being a tiger scout.  He really enjoys scouts.  I have also enjoyed spending time with him as well.  I am going to be a den leader next year so we will be scout central around here.

Jacob is doing good as well.  They went to the zoo, which is Jacob’s favorite thing to do.  I think if they had a hotel at the zoo we would be staying there all the time.  He really loves to see all the animals.  He especially likes the elephants.  We have not found a hotel in the zoo but this may work though:

They had a busy couple of weekends and went to the Children’s Museum and had fun playing. 

My parents came down about a month ago and we took the kids to the beach.  They had so much fun.  We ate hot dogs and the kids bought kites to fly.  They went down to the beach for a while and some how accidentally got wet!  I am sure they did not get wet intentionally.

Well I think I have you all caught up.  I am sure I have missed some events but hay I am just impressed I posted again.

Wow I missed a whole month of not posting! I guess nothing exciting happened last month.  We are all doing fine.  I am finally back on 2 feet again and walking pretty good.  I go back next week to the doc so hopefully he will give me the all clear on my ankle.  I have managed to get D hooked on The Office, so we had an Office marathon this weekend.  We watched season 1 and 2.  We even went on a date this weekend!  We had a nice quite evening by ourselves.  We are going to have to start doing that more often.  I mean what girl does not want to go to the Verizon store, Best Buy, and Dinner.  I know I am a romantic.  So ladies sorry I am already taken.  I’m thinking next date we may even hit Walmart, but that may just be to much excitement for one date.  Ok I am going to get back to it, sorry so short.  Until next time! 

  Big # 7   - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

  Birthday Fun!

 Christmas Morning….. Some were happier than others. 

   I was just impressed that I was in a picture!

1. Where did you begin 2008?At a friends house playing Wii
2. What was your status by Valentine’s Day? Still happily married.

3. Were you in school (anytime this year)? No.

4. Did you have to go to the hospital? No. I think 2008 was a hospital free year for me, which with my luck is pretty amazing.  We did however have to go for Michael from the light saber incident.
5. Did you have any encounters with the police? Only with my good buddy Brian and a new couple we met at a friends Christmas party.

6. Where did you go on vacation?We went to my family reunion in Montague, TX so not to far from home, but we are planning a San Antonio trip this summer.

7. What did you purchase that was over $500? our lovely air conditioner units were replaced from hurricane Ike.

8. Did you know anybody who got married? Yes.

9. Did you know anybody who passed away? Yes.

10. Did you move anywhere? No, but D’s mom moved down here.

11. What sporting events did you attend?Houston Texans pre-season game. I also played a lot of golf this year.

12. What concerts/shows did you go to? I do not think I went to any shows this past year.

13. Where do you live now? Houston.

14. What’s the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?  nothing that I can think of I am pretty boring

15. What has/have been your favorite moment(s)? Time spent with my family and friends, getting the last 2 weeks off in December

16. What’s something you learned about yourself? I am falling apart. I do not think I have gone a year without having some sort of injury.

17. Any new additions to your family? No

18. What was your best month? not sure but July is always fun.

19. What music will you remember 2008 by? If they played it on the Disney Channel then those are the songs I remember.
20. Made new friends? Yes.

21. Favorite Night[s] out? New Year’s Eve we spent with friends until wee hours of the morning playing games.

22. Any regrets?nope again I am pretty boring
23. What do you want to change in 2009? the way I look.  I really need to lose weight.
24. Overall, how would you rate this year?on a scale of 1-10? 6 there were a lot of things that happened this year. Ex. Hurricane, Sickness, House repairs.
25. What would you change about 2008? trying to stay healthy
26. Other than home, where did you spend most of your time? work.

26. Have any life changes in 2008? Not really.

27. Change your hairstyle? nope same hair style for 5 plus years now.

28. Get a new job? Nope.

29. Do you have a New Year’s resolution? Yes to lose weight 

30. Did anything embarrassing? I’m sure I did!

31. Buy anything new from eBay? Nope, but amazon has become my new best friend

32. What was/were your favorite purchase[s]?um my radio for my car, and my ipod.  Oh and all the stuff I got for Christmas

33. Get married or divorced? No.

34. Get arrested? No.

35. Be honest - did you watch American Idol? Um Yeah!! I love that show and plan to watch starting next week
36. Did you get sick this year? again can not think of a year I have not had some sort of ailment.
37. Start a new hobby?nope unless you want to count World of Warcraft
38. Been snowboarding? No, I live in Houston. There are some who have never seen snow

39. Are you happy to see 2008 go? I’m ready for 2009. That’s not quite the same thing.

40. Drank Starbucks in 2008? nope do not drink coffee.

What are you wishing for in 2009? For better health and losing weight

 Thanks Grace for the good idea!

OK since Diane stated that my last post was depressing I am going to right a happy post.  The boys are getting really excited about Christmas.  Michael keeps asking everyday if he can open up a present.  We keep trying to tell him if he opens them now he will not have anything for Christmas.  We thought this was a good answer, but Michael being the analytical person he is stated,  “He would get presents on Christmas from Santa”.  This is hard to argue with so I just did not answer.  Jacob I think is just excited to see his name on packages.  We had a package that was off to the side and not near the Christmas tree and he decided it needed to be moved right in front of the Christmas tree.  You have to love children and Christmas.  Michael is on the countdown.  He reminds us everyday how many days until Christmas.  I can not believe we are down to single digits, it seems like yesterday it was Thanksgiving.  Well I am going to get back to it.  I hope everyone has a good Christmas.  Until Next Time!

We would not have any luck at all.  Our house has been having all sorts of fun with ailments lately.  I started the chain reaction of bad luck so I guess everyone else in the family should be blaming me.  I have been having foot/heal pain for a while and went to the doctor.  I thought I had bone spurs, but come to find out most everyone has bones spurs.  The issue was that I had Plantar Fasciitis.  The pain actually got better but is now hurting like it did before.  We will get back to that later.  So then we found out that Jacob was sick with strep throat and explains some of his moody issues, mind you I said some.  He has always been a little moody.  I am not sure where he gets that from?(hmm, hmm, cough, cough, Diane, cough, cough)but I love them both the way they are, sometimes gets kinda scary but oh well we deal with it and go on.  So then Diane had a cyst that had to be removed, and now she is much better.  So now back to me.  So I went back to the doctor for my foot last week and my right ankle was bothering me again.  So it turns out that I have a partial tear in my ankle.  I did this about 5 years ago in the same ankle.  I am now on crutches and a walking boot for the next 4 weeks.  I am not suppose to put any weight on my foot yet until after 4 weeks.  Then I will go 2 weeks with partial weight.  I have tried to stay off of it as much as possible, but every once in a while I get tired and start putting weight on it.  I can tell when I have done that throughout the day because I am in serious pain by the time I get home.  So you ask what more could happen, well my Mom is back in the hospital.  We went and visited her last week and had a really good time until Saturday morning.  My mom woke up with a temperature of 104 and getting sick.  They called the home health nurse and gave her something to try and bring down her temperature.  They also iced her down as well.  They called the doctor and he said for her to go to the hospital in Dallas.  She had an infection in her port that she uses to get her nutrients from.  They have loaded her up with antibiotics and changed her port.  They have now decided to change the port out every 2 weeks.  She is scheduled to have surgery again the week after Christmas.  So if you guys can say another little prayer for us it sure would help.  I promise I will try and make my next post positive.  Until next time!

Sorry for the delay on this but just been a little crazy.  We finally have our house back together.  They finished with everything 2 weeks ago.  We have both of the boy’s rooms put back together and have redecorated them both.  Michael has decided to make his dad really proud and decorate in a Dallas Cowboys theme.  I almost shed a tear when I go into his room.  We have turned Jacob’s room into a jungle.  He has several wall hangings of animals.  So he is excited about all the new animal stuff in his room.  So pretty much 85% of the house got repainted so it looks like a new house inside.  Diane and her mom also bought new blinds for most all the rooms, so now we do not just have curtains.  We can tell a big difference in Jacob’s room.  He used to have the hottest and coldest room in the house.  We also replaced our dining room lite fixture which looks really nice.  The air conditioner people came 2 weeks ago and finished putting in the duct work for Michael’s room.  They also had to put in another return to help with the air flow.  They originally told me it was going to cost more money and when I called the main office to complain they changed their tune.  So we are slowly getting back to normal in our household.  Thank you all for the prayers and moral support.  We would have not been able to stay somewhat sane without you.  Until Next Time!

So the saga continues.  I bet you guys thought I forgot I have a blog, no we have just been a little crazy.  If we were not fighting with insurance, bank, or mortgage company, we were just trying to get on the list to get started.  So five days after the hurricane the people that were going to dry out the house and fix things was able to show up to dry out the house.  They setup several humidifiers and blowers to dry stuff out.  They also took more of Michael’s room ceiling out to help with the drying process.  The process took 3 days to dry out and then they would access the damage to see what all needed to be done.  We found out that we had more damage than what we thought.  The winds were so strong it caused several stress cracks in the walls and ceiling.  So they are going to have to do repairs in almost every room.  The only rooms that did not have damage is the boy’s bathroom, kitchen, and utility room.  Once we finally got power we found out that our breaker box got hit by lightning.  So this caused damage to our air conditioners as well so we got to replace both units.  After about 8 days the insurance adjuster finally showed up.  They stated that it would only take three days to get someone to our house but I kind of figured that it was going to take longer.  The insurance adjuster said that would take about a day for her to get the report in and then would take a week to get our check.  As has been the case on everything it took a week for her to get the report in and another week just to get our check.  We then decided to open another checking account at our bank so we could keep the money separate from our personal account.  So I go to put one of the checks in and they stated was going to have an 11 day hold on the check.  So not to have to type this again here is the letter that I ended up sending to my bank because it was like everything else messed up:

I would like to file a complaint on the bank. We recently have gone through hurricane Ike and have sustained damage to our home. I went into the branch with a check from our insurance. I was told that there would be an 11 day hold on the check. We are trying to put our lives back together and need to pay contractors to rebuild our house. The person at the branch stated that she would call and verify funds and remove the hold after 2 days. She asked for the best number to get a hold of me and I gave her my cell. She stated that she would call me in 2 days at noon at the number I provided. I did not receive a call so I called the branch at 12:30, giving her the benefit of the doubt she was busy. I was told she had gone to lunch. I then called back at 2:30 and she stated that she would talk to her branch managersince she was not able to verify funds. I waited until 4:30 and did not recieve a call back and headed to the branch. When I arrived at 5:00 she had not talked to the branch manager and also the number she stated she called was our main number in the account. The main number in the account is our home phone and I did not show on caller ID or a voice mail had been left. She then stated that the branch manager would remove the hold on Fridayafter they verify funds. I stated I needed to remove it today due to I have contractors I need to pay. I talked with the branch manager and he states that he would take care of the issue and would call me on Thursdayat noon. He did release 6000 so I could pay the contractors something. I called branch manager at 12:30 on Thursday and was told he had left the office as well. So this would be the 2nd time I have not received a call from the bank when promised. The branch manager stated that he was waiting on a contact to be able to verify funds. He stated he would call me back. He called me and stated that he was unable to get a hold of anyone and would check on this for Friday. He stated that would call our insurance company. I stated that I checked with our insurance company and they show that the check has cleared their account. The branch manager stated that he did not know what cleared meant on our insurance account. I have been working in the backing industry for over 10 years and cleared has always meant the item has been paid. I tried to go to the bank where the insurance check was drawn from but the bank was already closed. I then went to my bank at 5:10 and was told the branch manager has already left for the day, so yet again my issue has not been resolved. I plan to call our local news station if I am not able to get this issue resolved tomorrow. I am not trying to make threats I am just not getting things done.
So as you can tell this was not fun, but at least my email did not fall on deaf ears.  My issue was resolved the next morning.  This ordeal caused a lot of frustration so I decided to move to another bank, which has been ver helpful.  So due to the amount of damage we had another check that had to be sent to our mortgage company to setup a draw schedule.  So on the 14th of October I overnight the check to the mortgage company so we can get thing rolling.  I call them on the 15th and they stated that they had received the check and the documents.  I asked if there was anything else and she stated that she needed completion affidavit and copy of insurance summary of damage.  I stated that the completion affidavit is not sent until is done and the insurance summary was not needed per the letter we got.  She reviewed and confirmed that I was correct and that all document were received. She said would take about 7 days and we would get our first draw.  Well as you can guess this did not happen.  So I called them on the 24th of October and they stated that they are waiting on documents.  They stated the same thing as before and then she said “Oh wait we do have all the documents.  I will send an email to your file manager to get a check to you within 2 to 4 days”.  I also needed to order an inspection so we can get our 2nd draw check and this will take 2 to 4 days to order inspection.  So one brite spot is they have gotten started on our rebuild and have now finished the roof.  So instead of making them wait on the insurance we went ahead and paid them out of pocket.  They were willing to work with us but I did not want to make them suffer because people do not know how to do their job.  I normally do not get this upset but I am feeling like I am getting the run around.  So I call the mortgage company after 2 days just to check and what do you know nothing has been done.  So I call and the person that they gave the message to did not give it to the proper people.  So they stated that they would have my file claims person call me back by tomorrow.  So the next day comes and they do not call.  So I call and they say that the file claims person is going to send my check overnight on Monday, which is today.  So I am going to stop playing their game and call first thing this morning.  Maybe we can get this thing on track.  They are going to start on the inside this morning so again we are at least moving forward.  I really feel for the people who have more damage than us.  If I had to go through this much trouble I am scared to see what they had to go through.  So If you stayed with me this long thanks for listening.  Until Next Time!

Here are the pictures.

Our fence on the right side of the house

Roof

Michael’s room

Michael’s Ceiling

Michael’s floor