Well folks, I am officially a Christian. There is no longer any doubt. All that Bible
studying and daily devotionals have paid off --- in spades!
I see that FB is now doing a "timeline". I thought I might share a short timeline of this last year with
you, and a few things I have learned along the way.
By this time last
year, I had been blessed with the answer to a prayer - I prayed and prayed for
God to provide me with the man he had chosen as my lifelong mate. This is where I learned to BE SPECIFIC! I asked for a man who would treat me right -
as an equal, not hit or rape me, not steal from me or screw around on me, and
most of all, be an ACTIVE Christian God-Fearing man. I forgot a couple things.
I should have asked for a man who made more money than I do, and had less
issues!
So God provided
that wonderful caring, loving, broke - financially and physically as well as
emotionally man. Love him lots - no
kidding, but could actually do with a little more cash and a little less drama.
I am trying to remember why I asked for a man in the first place!
June, 2011: We moved into a mobile that was akin to a U2
submarine - you know the type - small mobile home with too many rooms for the
square footage of the trailer, making each room the size of a walk-in closet. But the views were awesome!!
Shortly after
moving in we had the pleasure of meeting several of the locals. A good portion of the EMS team to be SPECIFIC I had an argument with a sofa leg and
lost. Broke my baby toe in 2 places and
dislocated it. It stuck right out there at a 90 degree angle from my foot.
Three months in a cast and on crutches and now I can predict the weather.
Time went on, we
got broker, and happier, and the views were awesome.
November, 2011: Then
came winter - and yes it DOES snow in northern Arizona. In fact, if you live in the mobile we lived
in, it snowed in the house. You could see daylight around the closed front and
back doors. the wind blew through the
windows like they were made of netting.
This is when we discovered there was no heat. There was a heater. And it worked. I learned here that when renting a place you
plan to actually live in BE SPECIFIC! when asking questions. They failed to disclose the fact that at some
point in the not so distant past, some kids broke in, found some bags of
concrete, mixed it up in the sink and poured it down the sink drains and all
the heater vents. The landlord's concept
of how to fix this issue was to put in new sinks and drainpipes, and lay
linoleum over the room with the vents - which just happened to be the first 2
vents from the heater. Result: Heater kicks on - blows heat until it hits the
first cement block, which kicks back to
the heater and says turn off, it's warm now.
And this all in the space of about 2.5 minutes. Landlord said run ceramic heaters. If we turned on a heater in any two rooms at
the same time - no matter what room or side of mobile, it blew ALL the breakers
in the house. So we wore winter coats,
gloves, boots, hats etc in the house all day.
But hey - no bills for the propane cuz we were not using it ... and the
views were awesome!
December, 2011: While
walking through the house, I neglected to pay attention to the location of the
vents under the linoleum. There was one
that they had neglected to replace the vent cover on before placing the
linoleum down. I was aware of the
"give" in that spot and after finding the cover under the sink
realized what had happened and typically avoided stepping on that spot. Well, this time I missed on the way to the restroom, barefoot in the
middle of the night. I stepped on the vent the wrong way and broke my foot
lengthwise from toe to heel in 2 places.
Same foot as the broken toe. Five
months in a cast and crutches. But the
views were awesome.
January, 2012: Photo
of thermometer hanging on bedroom wall.
Temperature reading 33 degrees. Our
eyes were frozen shut. So much for the
awesome views.
February, 2012: In
cast and on crutches, packed up and moved to Paulden into a beautiful double
wide mobile on 5 acres with a great
landlord, heat, and no views. Forgot to
ask for SPECIFICS (explanation in July) Result:
higher rent, higher expenses but the heater works awesome!
I developed some
odd kind of rash. Ultimately head to
toe, itched like the devil, tore myself up when I was sleeping every night
until I became a walking scab with dripping blood - too bad it wasn't October
and Halloween - wouldn't need a costume.
And the heater works awesome!
June, 2012: Getting
toasty. Landlord had promised to install
A/C by the end of April when we moved in.
Somehow we got bumped as they acquired new properties needing
renovation. So now we will get A/C by the end of this month. Do you have any clue what 100+ does to a tin
encased mobile home? Do you have any
idea what sweat does to open, bleeding, head to toe lesions??? I do - it causes continuous prayer and a really
nasty mood! Thankfully I was SPECIFIC
about that man not being a violent one!
Got the electric
bill and it showed last month's payment as well as another rather large (for
us) application of funds While puzzling over this, we recall that prior to our move to Wilhoit last
June, SigO had not had service with APS,
and therefore had to put down a sizable chunk of change - roughly that which
was applied if we recollect correctly - as a deposit.
So we deduce that they have returned the deposit the
promised one year after prompt payments.
Our place is all electric and typically the bill runs around $100 -
$150. So we had a credit balance. Yippee!!!!!
Rash is finally
diagnosed. PCP gives up with the miscellaneous
must be this must be that trial and error routine and sends me to a
dermatologist who takes biopsies of the lesions and sends them to a special
lab. Along with the biopsies he takes
$40 from my pocket once a week for about 2 months. Diagnosis: "a rather rare skin condition referred
to as DH". Here's some cream,
here's some meds, use this really really expensive soap whenever you wash up or
shower and really really expensive lotion a minimum of 8 times per day.
The cooling system consists of opening all the
windows and letting the wind blow hot air through the house. Result:
Toasty. Now we are broke but we
saved money cuz the heat helps - we just stick the packages of hot dogs on the
window sills and in half an hour or so, voila! MRE's!!! (Meals Ready to Eat -
military thing) And I am quite certain,
however somewhat reluctant to test this theory, that the heater works great.
July, 2012: Landlord
puts in A/C - woo hoo!!!!! Knowing we
cannot afford to use it between my derm
bills and meds and the increase in electricity it will cause, but also knowing
we have a credit on our electric bill, we opt to run it for a few days during
the hottest part of the afternoon. I
would just like to say here that I LOVE A/C!!!
My SigO does not
care for music (or maybe it's just the kind of music I listen too, as well as
the volume I choose to listen to it!) and I love music. To avoid aggravating him, up until now, I
have been using my MP3 player. Last week
(before the installation of the A/C) we had an especially hot day. It melted the innards of my MP3 player. Now I have no music. But we STILL have a credit balance on the
electric bill and I am sure the A/C works great!
Next door
neighbors are moving to California. They
are getting rid of everything and starting over when they get there. We have no furniture and sleep on a mattress
on the floor. They give us a couch and
loveseat, and beautiful, albeit beaten and dog chewed, dresser with mirror and
2 nightstands. This is when the
"pestilence" predicted in the Bible come into play. The furniture was free - we had to pay extra
for the bed bugs.
Bed bugs. I thought that was just a saying - you know -
sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite?!
Well they do. Interestingly, each
bedbug bites in a series of 3 bites next to each other. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. They also like to hide in and under things
until they get hungry. Like pillow
cases. Or wall seams. Or electric
sockets where they can spread throughout the entire house.
The exterminators
say there is only one way to really get rid of them - they come in and raise
the temperature in your home to 165 degrees and maintain it for 4 hours. Bingo,
no more bed bugs. You also have some
MRE's -- like the huge boiled goldfish in the fish tank, and the roast parrot
with baked cockatiel appetizer. And
anything capable of melting has. That
will be $2500 (yes - you read it right and I wrote it correctly - no typos here
- just to clarify, they want Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars for this
service.) please. There has got to be
another option.
Why YES! says he!! It is , however, very labor
intensive. We come to your house with
chemicals (that will kill everything, including your fish, birds, cat, dogs,
and you if you don't wear a gas mask for the first 48 hours) and do your entire
house. Then we come back 10 days later
and repeat the procedure. And again 10
days after that. Cost? $800 PER VISIT! Obviously more research is necessary!!!
And so I
begin. I now have DH lesions AND
breakfast, lunch, dinner bites - and as my skin is very damaged at this
point, they REALLY like me since it does not take a lot of effort on their part
to puncture the skin.
Remember - I am a
Christian - we are SUPPOSED to be persecuted!!!
And God does not give you more than you can handle. He sure has a lot more faith in me than I
do. I think he has me confused with
someone else..... Like maybe from His eye-view I look a little like Job and He
and the Devil are playing their little test my resistance and my devotion game. And just to level the playing field I, having
used it a few times this month knowing there is a credit balance on the
account, KNOW the A/C works great!
August, 2012:
By August I am no longer looking like the Scab that ate New
York, it is over 100 degrees out, but really with the fairly constant 30mph
winds it only feels like it is over 100 degrees. I have become obsessed with the way my
damaged skin reacts to things. Like sand
pelting it at 30mph.
It has now become
clear to me that my body has given up on me.
It no longer allows me to relieve myself (either way) very frequently,
very much and not at all without severe pain and effort that makes me cry
during the execution and causes me to be totally exhausted post-execution. This
appears to be accompanied by periodic, unexplained periods of fever.
One of the
toilets is running constantly. We find
the leak in the little hose, and get some special tape and seal the leak. Voila!!
This causes the little hose to break a little higher above the
tape. Toilet still runs constantly.
But we still have
a credit on our electric bill and in an effort to provide me with some comfort,
SigO has been turning the A/C on once in a while for a few hours. (God Bless
him!!) And by golly that A/C works awesome!
September, 2011: Doc says my "uterine cavity" has
collapsed, my bladder has fallen down into it, and my "rectal tubing"
(his words, not mine) has fallen in from the other side, formed a V at the
bottom and on top of the "tubing" that goes from my bladder to my
urethra. The pressure there is closing
off the path from the bladder, preventing me from urinating, and the V is
backing the other up and preventing me from doing that as well.
He is going to
send a referral to Prescott Womens Clinic for surgery to "tie up the
bladder, if the rectal tubing has not
been damaged, reposition it, if necropsy has begun remove the damaged section and
put it back together, than reposition it, and reinforce the uterine cavity walls
to prevent it from happening again.
Recup time? "Oooooh not long, around 6 to 8 weeks for full
recovery" says he. We will go ahead
and do some of the blood work now so you are all set with that.
Yippee.
In the interim, I decide to make my plans
to prepare the household for my absence and myself for my return with no "bending,
twisting, long periods of standing or walking". SigO learns to feed and handle the birds,
fish, and dogs, and is advised to clean litter box daily to prevent doggie
consumption of "kitty candy".
I plan to work on things that require sitting, and have my laptop for job
searching. Have several items of
clothing that need hand stitching and some crochet items to complete for
Christmas gifts. SigO is warned that I become somewhat cantankerous when prevented from activity
and forced to spend extended periods of time in bed or on the couch while my
house goes to hell in a handbasket.
Apologies are made and accepted in advance.
My laptop dies. That hurts.
Ugh. Now what will I do during my
convalescent period????
In the past we
have always had 2 spare tires for Pokey.
One mounted under the vehicle (I hesitate to refer to something that
small as a truck), and one behind the driver's seat with a sheet over it to
protect it from the sun. This one has
never been on the ground. Our two back tires are really very tread-free. Regardless of finances, we are running
illegal and need to rectify the situation.
So off goes SigO to have the 2 spare tires put on the back of
Pokey.
Now, SigO suffers
from anxiety issues - totally understandable from a Viet Nam POW - and prefers
to predict and be prepared for any and all possible difficulties that may
arise. Me - well, I try not to sweat the
small stuff. I have enough crap on my
plate without thinking about what might happen and do the best I can just to
get through today and let tomorrow worry about itself - you see, I know that
God knows what is going to happen already and nothing I do now will change it.
So, SigO is now in
a constant state of stress as we cannot afford to replace the spare tires and
also Pokey needs his oil gasket replaced.
And realistically we need 2 new tires on the front as well, before snow
hits. So he frets and frets and sure
enough, Murphy pays a visit. The tire
that has been sitting for 6 years (precisely 1 year past the warranty) behind
the driver's seat, begins to separate. Well
now. Isn't that special. And the other tire that we had put on the
back is illegal as it has almost no tread.
So now we need new tires on the back - immediately. So off goes SigO to find 2 new tires for
Pokey. Pokey uses a 14" tire. SigO is informed this is a
"dinosaur" tire (well.... he is a 96 Nissy PU), and pretty much
nobody stocks them in the tri-city area (tri-city = Prescott, Prescott Valley,
Flagstaff). We finally find 2 and they
quote us $120. However, they charge us
$180. There goes the budget.
Dishwasher
dies. Runs with no water. I take it all apart and follow the hose
assuming a kink has occurred somewhere - easy fix. When I remove the kickplate on the dishwasher
I discover something has been nesting under it.
So with visions of Hanta Virus running through my head, I remove his
little home and dispose of it and sweep out from under there all his little
mousie droppings and then scrub up his dried up mousie pee while feelings of anger
and jealousy course through my veins that he CAN and I CANNOT do these things!
Further research
reveals that the line is not kinked, that water actually goes all the way to
the dishwasher as is proven by the fact that loosening the nut at that point
results in a shower I was not planning to take until later that day. Hence, the problem must be the pump. Great.
Landlord is not required to provide a working dishwasher, I cannot wash
dishes due to the danger of infection of the lesions that have reoccurred on my
hands, and SigO cannot do dishes because he cannot stand in a bent position for
that long due to back issues caused when he was a POW.
The doctor
calls. He is concerned because my
bloodwork came back and it shows that my liver is failing. This is probably due to the oral med my derm
prescribed for the DH. Stop taking it
immediately. When they do the surgery,
they will examine the liver and determine the extent of the damage.
The electric
company sends us a bill. They want over
$400. Now. I call to find out why our bill is so
high. Because another customer paid his
bill in June, and transposed 2 numbers on his account number and the funds were
applied to our account instead. And that
is our fault how ask I?? Well, ma'am, it
is not your fault at all! My reply of
course is : So you make a $400 mistake and I have to pay for it? Well, says she, first of all we did not make
the mistake, the other customer made the mistake (like I am an idiot and do not
know full well that when they apply a payment to an account the account holders
name comes up on the screen - which they obviously did not verify), but we have
to take the funds back and apply them to the correct account.
So now I have to see a surgeon ($40), pay APS for 4 months of electric bills
($400), pay for 2 tires ($200), pay for 2 more tires next month ($200), pay for
pokey's gasket ($250), have no MP3 player, no laptop for my planned online job
searches, the DH has begun yet again, bedbugs taking full advantage of my paper
thin skin, toxins leaching into my body keep me in an aggravatingly constant
state of fatigue, stress causing my seizures to override my anti-seizure med several times a day and
several more at night, which cause my
muscles to ache like I just finished a marathon.
But both the
heater and the A/C work awesome!!!!
Can anyone say "Baptism By Fire"??????
