Inconvenient Annoyances

Welcome back StealthG! So glad things are looking better for you!

Keep your head up! It took me a while to get my first job in the UK but once I had that (just a 2-3 week contract) it was soooo much easier looking for work.

Good luck! Keep us updated!

Thanks! It feels so nice to be out of there, I'm slowly returning to my old self!

I remember reading your Subway story TamaMoo - the excuses some of these employers give are either really laughable or cringe worthy. I actually shared your story awhile ago with DH because he did not believe me that other Americans were having trouble finding work. He is educated now though... heh. He has got to hear about the illegal/shady and health/safety violations that I've dealt with at some of the short temp jobs I've had.  Ill keep at it though. I think the thing that bothers me the most is I feel I will never be hired for anything other than cleaning jobs.

Bit of an IA -Does anyone know if a restraining order filed against me in the US will cause problems for my upcoming visa? My sister is making a PoA money grab on my mom in her old age and has requested in some court papers that a restraining order be filed against my brother and I from accessing some safety deposit box in the US.

Oh StealthG, I'm so glad you're out of your FIL's place. That seemed like hell on earth!!  I hope you can find a job soon! I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

We're switching net companies... again. AT&T just wasn't cutting it, so we switched to one of the locals. What we are supposed to be getting and what we are getting are two totally different animals. We struggle to get half of that, and half the time we aren't even getting a quarter of it. So we called the other local one, and had an appointment set up for yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday morning, I get a call from them saying we have to have a contract from our landlord saying it is okay for them to come in, because they have to drill one hole in the outside wall. Then we find out that the owner of the building also wants to be present. To find a time when the net company has an opening, the owner can be here and one of us can be here puts it all the way to next Wednesday.

We wouldn't have to be here except as a comforting presence and distraction for Joey when there are not only strangers in the house but drilling going on. He tends to get into a bit of a tizzy when he gets scared, which isn't often, but he's never been exposed to drilling noise in his young little life.

All of it could have been avoided if we had been asked if we rented, at the time the appointment was set up.

The fridge freezer in our rental house went pfft on the last Bank Holiday Monday and it's taken until today for my pos landlord to get it fixed! And when I say my landlord I mean me, making calls to British Gas (with whom he has a maintenance contract), using my cellphone minutes, and staying in on 4 separate occasions!! It's working now but I am still hopping mad! Apparently "these things happen", trust me to pick the house that has the Scrooge-like landlord! Vent over, at least my wine will be chilled:)

The fridge freezer in our rental house went pfft on the last Bank Holiday Monday and it's taken until today for my pos landlord to get it fixed! And when I say my landlord I mean me, making calls to British Gas (with whom he has a maintenance contract), using my cellphone minutes, and staying in on 4 separate occasions!! It's working now but I am still hopping mad! Apparently "these things happen", trust me to pick the house that has the Scrooge-like landlord! Vent over, at least my wine will be chilled:)

I'm amazed that they can get away with not immediately repairing a fridge.  I believe it's law in the US (at least it is in Florida) that you have a working fridge or else you can withhold rent.

IA 1. A co-worker was talking about the 'uppity' people who live on Mirror Lake, when we were all talking in the break room yesterday. Hubby and I live on Mirror Lake, and we are hardly uppity. As beer drinking heavy metal fans, I'd say we're the least uppity people around. Maybe because we only drink import and craft beer?

Rent is a bit higher, living on the lake, and property values for those who own homes are a little higher, because of the lake. That doesn't make us uppity, just means we pay a bit more.

IA 2. We're always in the wrong country at the wrong time for concerts. There is a big lineup headed to Louisville, KY on either October 4th or 5th, and we head back from the UK on October 5th. Lots of other examples over the years but this is the one on my mind at the moment.

Affordable healthcare, or Obamacare if you like.

I was on the phone nearly an hour to set it up, giving all our details, because at that time the website couldn't cope with taking permanent resident info and would keep sending us back to the beginning.

Ever since, they keep sending letters wanting more info. The latest is they now want MY immigration status and proof that I legally live in the US. Surely my social security number would guide them to proof I was born in the US?

I know it isn't a huge thing to copy a document (I used my passport)  and mail it off. It is just the idea of having to keep sending things in to them, when the information was given during the initial call.

Hubby checked the electric bill earlier. We pay all our bills by direct debit, but he keeps track of them online. Holy cow! It is $40 higher than last month, and $30 more than it has ever been since we moved here. Between the jump in the rate and the horrid heat and humidity outside making the air co run more, we could go broke at this rate. We bumped the air conditioner back up to 72. We'd had it at 73 until it got so hot, and we may just have to deal with it there and not be so spoiled.

After literally years of trying this or that to try and figure out what's wrong with my daughter, who is now 4, we finally got some answers after extensive testing. 

Two years ago we took her off Dairy, and then last year we added gluten to the list, but her tests came back that she is ALSO sensitive to:
Turkey
Beef
Chicken
MUSTARD [?]
Eggs

As you can imagine with two small kids, I was already struggling to provide for her dietary restrictions, so now I am just floored. The doc suggested we could still feed her LAMB, FISH, pork, and soy to get protein in her, but ARG! We can't afford to regularly buy the former two as we are trying to move over to the UK asap, and we generally avoid the latter.

I know I have to buck up and do it anyway, but I'm just griping. Ever since the diagnosis I've had a headache, and I know it's all in my head, but I'm having a hard time.

You'll learn to adapt eventually. I promise. my sister and I have a lot of dietary restrictions that didn't show up until our 20's, and while it seems insurmountable at first, it will become a way of life eventually. Plus take heart that kids can grow out of that stuff just like I grew into it.

Fireworks going off until nearly 4 am. Town fireworks stopped before 11, then everyone else started. The last really huge, house-shaking percussions seemed to stop about 3:30, but the rest of them kept going. Now that people can buy the really huge fireworks, and so many shops pop up fighting for business that everyone runs 'buy 1 get 2 free' or even 'buy 1 get 5 free', people buy lots and lots of them. They've been going off since the beginning of June, and will likely go on for another few weeks. I certainly hope to sleep tonight.

You all know how it goes.

Next Door has a lovely front garden with lots of flowers, tall sunflowers, etc.  She has also converted her back garden into an allotment with raised beds, huge pots and a mini greenhouse.  Growing great guns.

Now, because the back has been taken over for growing purposes, she has decided to park her car across our driveway (OK -- we don't have a car but we do have the odd visitor).  I wouldn't mind so much if she had asked if it was OK -- or even offered some of her vegetable bounty in return 

Finally scheduled to have my wisdom teeth pulled out after being pregnant or nursing for 5 years, then another year of procrastination.  THE DAY BEFORE THE APPOINTMENT I got a positive pregnancy test, and although I am very excited about the baby, the one tooth that was bothering me was still gonna have to come out.  I knew with the hormones I'd have extra allergies and sensitive gums and it was going to get ugly in there.

So I did it anyway. Yesterday, with a local anesthetic only, I had my biggest, meanest wisdom tooth extracted.  I can't take the good drugs or the antibiotics or really even tylenol since I'm in my first trimester.  It was kind of like torture because I also was tired and had to pee every five minutes, and standing up made my entire side of my mouth throb. Oh and it took about 8 hours to stop bleeding. I got through it, though, and today I feel much better.  I think those other two are just gonna have to hang out until baby is old enough to take bottles of pumped milk for a few days though. Eugh!