Adventures in Evicting!

Let me just preface this post by saying that if you're easily sickened, stop reading now. For real, stop!

Last week I evicted a non-paying tenant. I absolutely hate to do this because it makes me sad to put someone out, regardless of the situation...except this time. I absolutely hate to think that anyone took advantage of me, but this lady got me. Long story short, she hadn't paid in 2 months when I finally put her out with all her stories about messed up direct deposits, lost checks, etc. Then she calls me crying. Literally crying about not having all the money and getting put out on the street, her car broke down, you name it. I guess I was the sucker this time, but it always teaches me a lesson & makes me a little harder on the others when someone takes advantage of my kindness like this. So, Friday was the day. I showed up with 2 other guys and we went in to put her crap on the curb. Well, she knew it was coming so thank God most of their stuff was already out. She did, however leave me with about 20 trash bags full of absolute junk strewn all over the house, a refrigerator full of nasty food, 3 bags of rotten stinky potatoes in various cabinets, a sink full of sitting nasty water and 3 days old food dishes in the oven and on the stove.

Ready for the nasty part? Here's your warning...
They also apparently had the water cut off days earlier, so I picked up a milk jug that had urine in it, and all 3 toilets were full of waste. 4-5 DAYS OLD um, excrement...I guess that's the politically correct term. So, I was beyond done at that point. Screamed, ran out, done. Not going back in there. Over. My very resourceful, do anything to help me father and husband went out there the next day to clean the carpets and paint, and informed me that they got the toilets cleaned out and flushed. Thanks guys, swear on my life I would not have done that. Ever. I draw the line at puke and poo. Not gonna do it!
But seriously, it never ceases to amaze me how people live by choice. Gross!
Again, Thank you God that I have a job during these tough times where so many are out of work. Even if it's gross, nasty & I need a full body sanitizing at the end of the day. Amen.

Fun with friends

Here are a few pictures from our weekend trip with some friends to Pigeon Forge, TN...we stayed at my in-law's beautiful home and had some fun times with our 2 families. We went to Dollywood, the pool, and a really fun kiddie ride/go kart place (that I have no pics of because my camera took a near fatal fall into the pool earlier that day)

Thankfully, all pics and my much loved camera were saved, and we have photos of our fun weekend!

We're going to Dollywood!

These little garden theme statues were everywhere & so cute

Riding the Flying Elephants with Daddy

They loved the bee ride!

Time out for a cooling off in the kids water area.

They had a blast with the water guns!

Silly girls

Um, yeah. This really happened for those of you that know him...all.day.long.

(He really did have a sprained knee) I just couldn't resist!

Playin' at the pool

There were other people on the trip that I got a grand total of zero pictures of. Sorry, maybe next time I'll have a wider range of subjects :) this weekend was all about the kids and family fun...whew we were tired when we got back home! Vacations or long weekends are always that way, aren't they? No matter how "relaxing" you think they'll be, you're so busy that you're tired and worn out when they're over.

4th of July Fun!

This year, we didn't have any plans for the 4th of July, and I was a little bummed! We thought we would just go hang out with our neighbors and watch 2 of the guys (full grown men and dad's who get giddy like little school girls over the thought of shooting fireworks) have a mini fireworks "show" in the backyard and have a cookout. At the last minute, some of our friends that we've recently reconnected with invited us over for a cookout. Our little girls are so much alike it's scary, so they love playing together (until they get tired & start fighting like sisters) and we were excited to get them together again.

When we got to their house, they had the kiddie pool set up and their Daddies decided to put it at the bottom of the slide so they could land in it. This was a sight to behold! They had a blast, and even had on matching shirts (this part was unplanned) to celebrate the 4th!

Sliding in head first...my little daredevil!

How stinkin' cute are they?!

After dinner, we decided to go to a fireworks show at our church, and it was so much fun! The girls got to jump on some inflatables, got snowcones and glowsticks, and of course, watched some fireworks! They had a part of the evening where a member of each branch of service got up on stage and the pastor named off all the soldiers from our state that have died during the war. It was very moving, and a great reminder of the cost of freedom that we are able to celebrate in our great country! Our little one, however, was very confused and wanted to know all about what was going on and why those people were dressed like that (the armed forces uniforms) and why we are clapping for them, etc. It is always difficult to explain things like that to a young child, but I hope she understood a little bit and grows up to admire and respect all those that sacrifice for our freedom. We are so thankful to be Americans ~ A great time was had by all!

Acting silly, waiting for the show to begin!

They always put on an awesome Fireworks display!

Enjoying the show

No, she didn't wet her pants...this is all from her snowcone! Good Memories :)

She had so much fun, and so did we!

Hope your holiday was excellent, as well!

My child hates me!

How is it that I've already come to the point in my child's life that she would much rather play with her friends than do something fun with her own Mommy?
I was prepared for this to happen when she was around 8, maybe but 3 years old? She love, love, loves Hannah Montana and I thought I would make a fun "girls night" and take her to see the movie. When I told her my "surprise" she said "ah, that's boring!" Um, really, you're 3 what do you know about boring? So I do the mature thing and get an attitude because I certainly won't force her to spend time with me. She chooses to play with our neighbors instead, and later tells me "we'll go see a movie next time, ok"
The next day I try to be fun again and pick her up early from the babysitters to go to the pool. She's all for going, until our neighbors, once again come over before we leave and she chooses to stay home and play with them. First of all, I am thankful that we have kids she likes to play with in the neighborhood, but really, it gets old!
I'm not sure if she's so used to being entertained her entire life that she really is bored with being the only kid around or what, but she's gonna have to suck it up and spend time with her boring old parents sometimes.
Last night while I was putting her to bed, I decided to have a heart to heart with her. I'm all asking if she loves me and if I'm a good Mommy and if I'm nice and all kinds of things a 3 year old has no concept of in real life. She's assuring me that yes, she does love me and wants to spend time with me, but "I just really like to play with my friends". She then assures me that she likes to do SOME stuff with me. We do good projects! she says. Well, at least I'm good for something. Guess I'll have to break out the art box more often!

It's only right

Since my last 2 posts were like "story time with Stacie" I thought it was only fair that I post a couple of pictures. They're completely random, but at least you'll have some pictures to look at! I do what I can :-)
I told her to get in the car while I checked the mail the other day & came back to this...She had even buckled the seat belt~Safety First! Hey, at least the keys weren't in it!

Before we cleaned out the garage, there were boxes of clothes everywhere that didn't fit her anymore. She found this dress, (a Christmas Dress that's 2 sizes too small), and was riding her big wheel in it (in the driveway). I said, "where did you find that?" She goes "In the garage, I hurried up so you wouldn't catch me!"

Note: I had the garage door open and was inside the house, but in full view of the garage. I knew she was in there, but obviously didn't know exactly what she was doing...don't judge!

Chillaxin' after a nice meal at the pizza place

Still a big Marble Slab fan! This time she says "I'm gonna be a Ice Cream Mixer Girl when I get big!" I told her that's great, only if I get free Ice Cream though!

A bit scary

So you probably guessed from my previous posts about my job that the townhomes I manage aren't in the best neighborhood, right? Well, it's gonna get even worse soon. My boss came into town about a month ago & told me he wanted me to look at some properties in the same town I live in because they were thinking about buying them. I'm thinking great, it's close by, this town doesn't have any real rough areas, this will be good! WRONG!!! He takes me to a side of town I didn't know existed & I think we turned down the street that supplies drugs for the entire ATL. I mean, really? It's here? So, I say nothing...crickets...the whole way up and down the block, back to civilization, I am silent. I'm thinking, he has eyes, right? He'll figure it out. So, he didn't really talk about it again until last week when he comes back into town to take me over there because they're closing on the property in 2 weeks! Awesome, what's my role? Rehab facilitator, dealer, case worker, meth cooker, what?
I still don't really know what they'll want me to do with this project other than to be in charge (by default, because I'm the only one in town and have all the construction contacts) of the "flip" of both quadplexes...is that a word? I guess this is house flipping on a large scale 101. I tell people that if I had money & didn't have to work, what I would do for "fun" is flip houses, so this will be make or break for that dream, right? This is like slum city turned well, up a few notches. We'll see how it goes. In my defense though, if I had money & was flipping for fun, I would've run, not walked from this neighborhood!
Oh, and tonight I made my husband go with me because my boss wanted me to measure some things he forgot to get while he was in town. Of course I wasn't going by myself, so we went over there (before dark) to get those real fast. While we're standing outside, a cop pulls up & says "are you guys moving in?" My husband laughs and says "uh, no. We know the owner & are doing a few things real quick" he goes..."Oh good. I was about to give you a little warning about the neighborhood. You guys be careful & call if you need anything" Then he circled the block off & on until we left. I really appreciated that, and hope they patrol often, but um...I'm just praying I don't have to go there very often because I don't know if I would make it out of there!
Sorry, I didn't mean to write a book. I get carried away.

Waaaay overdue!

We live in a relatively small home, and have decided (thanks to the numerous foreclosures in our neighborhood) that we'll be here for a while. Our house probably won't even appraise for what we paid for it now, so we won't be selling anytime soon. We decided we'll just make this house more comfortable. So, we've gotten some new living room furniture recently and new pictures for the walls in most rooms (No, we didn't spend a lot of money, and yes, we're still doing the Dave Ramsey thing. Some deals you just can't walk away from...I'm sure Dave would understand. Well, ok he wouldn't, but I'm fine with it). I am DYING to paint in the living room, but can't talk hubby into that task just yet ;-)

We also tackled the huuuugggeee project over the weekend of cleaning out our garage. Unfortunately, over the course of our 7 years in this house, it had become a catch all for anything and everything we couldn't bear to part with, christmas decoration storage, baby clothes/furniture storage and lawn equipment galore.

In a nutshell, it was an embarrassing mess! Of course we had the little one's scooter, motorized jeep, big wheel & tricycle in there, too so she wanted us to open the door every day while she was playing outside, but it was becoming too embarrassing for me to open it in full view of the neighbors. SOOOO We manned up on it & got it done Friday night & Saturday. It almost killed us, but we took an entire cargo van loaded top to bottom to the dump, and filled the attic with all our holiday decor and some baby stuff, too!

We now have a 2 car garage that is mostly empty & I never thought we could do it! The trick will be keeping it that way, I guess, but I am not emotionally attached to everything like I used to be. "If you haven't used it in a year, chances are you'll never use it, so trash it" is my new motto.

We did make a little play area for the little one and all the neighborhood friends, and they absolutely LOVE it! I also came across a table and chairs that is perfect for the garage and all our crafts, without getting the dining room table all messy. I'm so excited about our progress!!!

I don't have any garage pics...mostly cause I would've been horrified to show the "before" for you to appreciate the "after" pics.

Sorry for writing this L-O-N-G post & not giving you anything to look at :-)