What motivates me.

When I find something that I like, I tend to tell my friends about it. If I find something I love, I tend to tell anyone who is willing to listen all about it. I believe in word of mouth advertising. And while I know a lot of bloggers do reviews to make a little extra cash, (good for them!), I am receiving nothing for it. I just want to spread the word about a couple of things I have come to love...

For our anniversary last year, Hubster got me a Kindle Fire. It arrived the day we left to visit Mom before her open heart surgery, and it stayed in my suitcase for a few weeks before I felt I had the time to spend familiarizing myself with it. Once I did get a chance to play with it a bit, I was still so busy that there were days I didn't even pick it up. 

Fast forward to the present day, and I find that I use it all. the. time. In fact, it is rare a day goes by without me using it, and Hubster uses it every night when he walks on the treadmill, as well.

At first, I used it mainly for playing games or checking the occasional recipe online. I used it to look up a movie here and there for the girls to watch, but what I found it most useful for is watching television shows on Amazon Prime while I'm on the treadmill or even doing dishes and laundry. I am in love.

Once I got through Sherlock, one of many amazing BBC series, I laughed my way through Arrested Development, which I'd never gave a second glance when it was on TV, and I got COMPLETELY hooked on Fringe, a sci-fi series that boggles the mind. It is amazing, has funny, quirky characters, and can't wait for Hubster and Bugster to both get caught up on it, so we can watch the current/last season together. It will be awhile, since Bugster just started watching it today, and Hubster still has 2 of the 4 seasons to go, but I'm dying to see what comes next and how they end the series. I put it toward the top of the list of my favorite shows. 

While I'm waiting for Bugster and Hubster to catch up, I'm thoroughly enjoying some of the other BBC series that I never even knew about before getting the Kindle. I highly recommend Little Dorrit, Tess of the D'ubervilles, Cranford, Lark Rise to Candleford and Downton Abbey to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. 

The great thing is that I'll likely never run out of shows to watch while I'm on the treadmill. By the the time I get to the point of walking for a couple of hours at a time, I can always watch some of the movies that are offered as well. Add the free audio book rental each month as well as free 2-day shipping on most items, I think Amazon Prime is a really good fit for us. 

I'm thinking of having an affair.

I'm exhausted tonight. In trying to get things caught up before my surgery, I may have overdone it a bit. I have a couple of loads of laundry to do tomorrow - some sweaters and the girls' bedding, and I should be caught up again. I have to admit I've really enjoyed the new machines we got, and I'm finding it much easier to keep caught up on laundry with them. 

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to wash the bed pillows and was pleasantly surprised at how clean they came. It's nice to know that I can wash them at home instead of lugging them down to the laundromat. Besides, I probably would have thrown some of them in the trash rather than taking the chance of someone seeing how dirty they were. Sort of like cleaning the house before the cleaning crew gets there, because you'd be embarrassed they'd see how messy your house really is. Funny how that works, isn't it? 

While we were changing the bedding on our bed today, I took the cover off the memory foam mattress topper to wash. We discovered that it is the memory foam that is wearing out instead of our mattress. That was some welcome news, considering how inexpensive memory foam is anymore. We're thankful we only have to replace it and not the whole mattress. 

So I will go to bed exhausted tonight but very thankful for the accomplishments of the day. I was even able to get on the treadmill and walk for 30 minutes. Unfortunately, I've missed about 5 days on it since I started walking daily back in October, but I'll take it. At least I  haven't given it up entirely in spite of illness, back pain and the general achiness and fatigue of fibro. 

I think our bed is trying to seduce me. I hear it tenderly calling my name with whispers of sweet dreams. 

I think I'm going to give in...

When toilet paper sticking to your shoe takes on a whole new meaning.

I'm feeling cooped up and I've got a bit of Spring Fever, even though we're nowhere close to Spring. 

I was supposed to have my tonsils removed a couple of weeks ago, but because of a medical condition I have they had to reschedule it. Apparently I will never be allowed to have surgery at a surgery center and instead this and any future surgeries need to be performed at the hospital. I go in next week to have the work done, and I'm just ready to get it over with.

I've been trying to stay away from the germs that are in public places as much as possible, because I didn't want to come down with anything that would stop me from going in.  For the most part it's been easy, but I have to admit the last couple of weeks have dragged on. The day before I was scheduled to go in, they broke the news to me that it needed to be done in the hospital. So just when I was just about to see the light of day I had 2 weeks added to my sentence. I'm ready to be paroled! I want to take the girls shopping and not be concerned that I'll catch something that will postpone the surgery once again, if I run to the store for a gallon of milk.

I have to admit that things haven't been exactly boring here at home while waiting though. Last week when I was getting ready for a doctor's appointment, things got a little exciting. Have  I mentioned that not all excitement is the same? If not, let me tell you now that excitement is not necessarily a good thing...

After giving Hopper her shower, I jumped in, so I'd be ready for my doctor's appointment. I'd been shaving my legs and was finishing up when I noticed the shower drain cover was starting to float. I was immediately filled with a sense of dread. The dread turned to horror, as I was scrambling to rinse off my legs and noticed black stuff coming back up through the drain. 

Crap.

Literally and figuratively both. 

I jumped out as fast as I could and stretched each foot up to the sink and washed them as best I could before drying off and getting dressed. I slathered my feet with hand sanitizer before putting on my socks and shoes. It was the best I could do under the circumstances, and it made me feel marginally better, but I was still grossed out.

Thankfully, we didn't have to leave for the appointment for a couple of hours, so Hubster got the snake out and snaked the drain. The water in the shower and on the floor of the laundry room subsided, and he did get a small clump of roots out, so we were hopeful all was well. It wasn't. As soon as I flushed the toilet upstairs, the toilet downstairs started backing up. In the split moment confusion of watching the toilet water rise, Hubster flushed it hoping it would go down. It did. All over the floor. 

We were back to square one, but it was time to head out the door for the appointments at this point, so Hubster and Scooter had to skip their showers. We called the plumbers on the way to the car and asked, if they could meet us back at the house once we were done across town. Thankfully, it all worked out, and the drain was snaked once again with a gigantic snake that is much more powerful than our industrial one. The roots he got out of the drain looked like a small volleyball in the plastic bag. 

Gross.

But at least we don't have to worry about black stuff floating up through the shower drain when we're showering again. The bad thing is that we do have things to worry about.

A few years ago, we were told we needed to replace the drain outside from the outside of the house all the way to the street. We put it off, because it was going to cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000. We're now wishing we had done it. The price has gone up to almost 25 grand! Apparently one of the permits that is needed is almost $6,000, and there is more than one permit needed in order to complete the work.

Crap.

If we couldn't afford $10,000 a few years ago, I can absolutely promise we can't afford $25,000 today. 

Crap. 

So we're looking into a different solution. It involves putting in a 'clean out'. They can replace about 10 feet of the outside drain and put two pipes shaped like a U. If they use the side of the U that is closest to the street, the can snake things out into the house, and if they use the part of the U that is closest to the house, they can clean everything out toward the street, and they never have to bring the filthy snake down our stairs again.  So it's definitely an option. It's a $7,000 to $10,000 option, but at least it isn't $25,000. And at this point, we need to get it done, so we don't keep having these horrible sewer problems. 

Crap.

On a good note, I got the router replaced the other day, so I'll be able to finally get online and write a blog post without being bumped. 

I'll take it.