Construction Woes

Our current house is a rental. We are military, enough said. They finally got around to repairing the hole in the floor by the fireplace that turned out to be a leak on the roof around the chimney that had gone on for 5 or more years. 5 YEARS!

Well, it rotted out the roof, the support beam for the roof, studs on half the wall, subfloor, beams supporting the floor, door frame, basically everything on that wall.



They knocked down the adorable stone fireplace. Why you ask? Because it was all rotted behind the fireplace.




Does anyone know what happens when there is rotting plant matter (wood) in North Carolina? Anyone? If you live here for more than 2 seconds you know. It attracts your friendly neighborhood cockroach. Here they call them Palmetto bugs or Water bugs. Yeah, they are still cockroaches.

Can anyone guess what happens when rotting wood goes unchecked for 5 years? The Water Bugs build a nest, in your wall.

OKAY WHAT IS NEXT GETS A LITTLE SQUIMISH FOR THOSE WITH BUG ISSUES SO YOU MAY WANT TO STOP READING.

When those nice construction guys knock it down the bugs come pouring out. I didn't get a picture. I was too busy trying to kill them before they got in the rest of the house. I am pretty sure I missed some because I have been killing little baby water bugs for several months now.



My only consolation, this particular cockroach doesn't like the indoors. They prefer decaying plant matter, outside, not in the house. Whew! So when given a choice they want to leave. It wasn't much of a consolation.

Parallel Lives

This is DH home on R&R last summer toward the end of a 12 month deployment


It became painfully apparent that I do not share all of my life with my husband. It is a hazard of military life. Between training, schools, long hours on post, and deployments we do not share our lives. I don't know how other families work together or how much they share. I have lived here in this house for almost 2 years. He has lived here for 8 months. I will be sad to leave it, very sad. I love our church, I love my neighbors and friends. They are like family to me in many ways. He still needs directions to get around town and could leave tomorrow if he needs to with no sadness except for maybe the stuff on post

This absence has gone on for most of our marriage. It is larger now that we are Army (Air Force does not know how good they have it). The training is longer, the deployments are longer, and the work days seem longer as well. But I have learned to keep moving forward, albeit slowly, with life and activities. I used to wait for DH to get home or a better time when we could all do it. I realized it was never going to happen. Nothing was ever going to work perfectly or be timed just right. The boys are getting bigger and we were all missing out. So we keep going.
. 2003 Deployment during our Air Force Years

The problem is that so is he. He does have a military life that we are separate from most of the time. We cannot understand. We simply can't. I have to accept that.

The way it seems to work for us though in somewhere at home. We rest in the knowledge that we are a family no matter what happens. We are here, at home, where ever that may be at the time. He knows we will be here waiting when he gets home. He knows what he is working for while he trains and takes tedious classes at bases far away. We are working at shutting things out to enjoy that time. We have to fight harder for that time that many families I see take for granted. We do not enjoy the familiarity of everyday routines with another person. I have to work at not resenting his laptop in my work area. I rejoice at times to have the extra laundry. It means he is home, for now.

We move forward, live our lives that we may glorify God, here and there. Some times together, many times apart. Moving, not on the same path, but still together.


Packing night for 2008 Deployment

Absence does make the heart grow fonder in some ways. In other ways it causes you to put up defenses because you know they will have to leave again. You learn to live with the pain, at least I try, so you can enjoy the moment. Because some times all you get is that moment.

Never burn bridges....

My last few days have been a doozy. Well maybe a little bit of a doozy but it felt big to me. I squeezed it in between kids, school, church, and quilt class. It kind of fell on me at once but would not have been that bad had it not been for those folks who at times are a little crazed with life and it spills onto other things.

First it was someone in the Army life. They were having an awful week and I called, innocently asking for information, at exactly the wrong time. After some words from them (I didn't have a chance to speak) they hung up to yell at the person they were actually mad at. I was stunned a little but not hurt. I baked her some banana bread to smooth things over even though it wasn't my fault. Homemade banana bread fixes a lot of things.

The second event was from some sensitive tenants in the house we can't sell in another state. We leased it because we couldn't sell it. They wanted to buy it but have had so many financial and medical issues they can't. We have to sell. We can't afford to keep it. They refuse to show it and have delayed the process for 2 months. Texting is not a great way to communicate this type of information but they will not answer the phone. Then they called my DH mean in a text. -Sigh-

I type all this to say, never burn your bridges. You never know when you will need that person to show kindness or compassion. As a Christian I am commanded to turn the other cheek. I am also commanded to act with kindness and gentleness no matter what you have done to me. I know all people do not act this way. Not all people are Christians and not all Christians act this way all the time. Odds are they will return your spite with spite and then some.

I will speak with the Army contact later in the week when she is feeling better. Our tenants are legally bound to allow access to the house and still need a good reference from us. I don't think they remember that. You never know when you will need that bridge to still be standing, and besides mean words never help. They only make you look crazy and out of control.

I pray your bridges are still standing today. If not perhaps you need to repair them if you know how.

I don't know WHAT this says about me or my high school years but this song reminds me of hot summer nights, drivin' too fast down a dirt road tryin' to make curfew. I was almost always comin' back from something I shouldn't a' been doin'.

Yes all the words were intentional because I remember my childhood in a deep Texas accent.

I just love this one. 2 of my 3 boys will do this with me, the other one looks at us like we are crazy. It is the same look his father gets, but we eventually wear him down until he at least laughs but not before he complains our music is too loud. You know some 4 year olds just don't get it!