I lack motivation. And I babble.

Laundry is waiting in the kitchen to be brought downstairs. The bathroom needs to be cleaned. The kitchen floors are gross. Dishes are in the sink. And where am I? On the computer because I don't want to clean.

School starts up for me again next week. Two of my classes should be fairly easy. The second part in Natural Science will kick my butt this term. I'll actually have a professor who teaches the class how it should be done. I still need to retake my math placement exam otherwise I'm screwed. Which means I need to study. Yet something else I'm avoiding like the plague.

My, how things have changed.

Monday we got a visit from M who we haven't seen in months. Can't say we missed his coming over before 8am on a Saturday morning at all. The curiosity got the better of him since he saw the electric truck outside.

A year ago we were on friendly terms with these 3 families. Now? Only one family do we occasionally talk with. They made it abundantly clear our family was no longer welcome at birthday party celebrations this summer. It was the one concern I had in inviting them to the boys back in June. I no longer have this concern going forward. Brendan even called them out on it one time and was ignored. Why? Because they know what they did was wrong. Fortunately it's their karma that'll bite them in the ass.

Last year had us receiving holiday goodies. This year? Not a single one. I debated taking over a batch. I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad because the rare times of small talk between us is awkward. There is so much I'd like to say but know it won't do a damn bit of good.

I know I shouldn't let the fallout between these families bug me. Jason keeps telling me to let it go. For the most part I have. Until I see how the 3 wives bonded together over a run and now have a nickname for them. Or how another person who they directed their gossip towards is now a bestest friend.

I mean, it's so fucking obvious they've turned their backs on us. On me. I know it's not me. I know I didn't do anything wrong because two of the wives can't even look me in the eye if I pass them on the street. It still hurts.

A year later

and this is where we stand. The basement still isn't done but progress is finally being made. Jason's been working on removing the old paint from the walls and glue from the floor. The grey areas on the wall have been scrubbed clean. It takes hours in removing the paint. We have one last possibility in paint removal before going back to the lovely lead based haze removal.

The floors are slowly being brought back to normal before we lay down self leveling concrete. If you pay attention you'll also see the crappy fluorescent lights are gone! We have proper recessed lighting and the lights on the stairs are working. Took us forever to figure out what the little boxes were.

During the next two weeks a flurry of activity will be happening downstairs. Okay, I admit we also have a deadline with the insurance company in turning the rest of our claim in for the mold damage of last year. Dare I say we'll have a proper ceiling with insulation by month's end? That we'll have brand new bamboo flooring downstairs? Yes, yes I dare.

And I wonder why I'm sick

The week started off innocently enough as a random sore throat. The occasional hacking loogy was there with the intermittent cough. As the week progressed, the throat became more swollen and scratchy. The lungs are fighting back. The pain is, well, a pain in my fucking ass. I've been popping Tylenol like their Tums while I shine a flashlight down my throat.

All during this week Jason has been working on stripping the paint off the walls and glue crap on the basement floor. The haze! The fumes! The air we're breathing! It's no wonder more of us aren't hacking within the walls of our house.

At least I'm not the only one hacking. Jason is firmly entrenched in the same misery.

You're not in code.

The electricians came out today since we, I mean Jason, knows his limitations. Several of the junction boxes and lights were not in code, something which doesn't surprise us one bit. They're coming back next week to install recess lighting in the basement. I refuse to have anymore fluorescent lights down there. Okay, so it's also because we don't want the pain in the arse drop ceilings either.

Jason's been trying to remove the old paint on the cinder block. The only thing working at the moment is grinding it off. This results in a fine haze making it's way upstairs. He'll come out covered in gray soot and his mask completely dark. None of this crap is helping us feel any better since we're both fighting something off at the moment. He's ordered a product which is supposedly guaranteed to work. Keep your fingers crossed because I don't want anymore dust.

I'm tired of dusting and vacuuming daily because of this shite. It's everywhere. I know I'm missing quite a bit since I won't move furniture around. He didn't realize how bad it got up here until the other day. The last time he'd worked down there I'd mention the haze. I also said I didn't know how much was coming from downstairs or my glasses buggering my eyes. I haven't been wearing my contacts very much so it was a likely excuse.

One of these days we'll have a functioning basement again.

Look at the size of that thing!

No, I'm talking about the spanky, new iMac sitting in front of me. So very odd having a monitor this big. I haven't found the right distance for me yet. And then I got distracted.

I started filling the Nano up with music. We've lost so much through the years in downloads, etc., it's not even funny. We're going old school again and just buying cd's. Everything I've downloaded from itunes is gone. Half of emusic is gone. I was just looking for Tiger Army to load and it's gone. Fuckity fuck fuck. Stupid technology.

Kung Fu Panda and Legos, oh my!

I'm sitting here at the table listening to the sounds of Kung Fu Panda in the background while the older two build their new Star Wars Lego sets. Is there a better way to start a Sunday morning? Didn't think so.

The kids made out like bandits again this year. No one, including Jason, have taken off their spanky new slippers. Jake is regularly seen wandering around the house in his Iron Man helmet. It's rather comical since he looks like a bobble head wearing the helmet.

One of their bestest gifts came from Uncle Josh and Uncle Dewey. They were give measuring tapes, mini flashlights, fat pencils and air horns. Fortunately the air horns lost their power on Friday night. The measuring tapes? The boys LOVE them. They've been measuring everything and anything in the house. Hours of fun, even more so than a slinky.

Me? I was dumbfounded by unwrapping packages regarding a new computer. An iMac to be specific. Jason even got me a magic thinkpad for the mouse. Our laptop is sluggish and dying a slow death. We've been talking about finally plunking down for a Mac this next go around. I wasn't expecting the gift for Christmas. He went with the iMac vs a netbook because they cost the same. Yes, I was gauche enough to question him on this since I thought we'd go for the netbook. Portability does have its uses.

It was a good day yesterday.