So it would seem that I have rheumatoid arthritis. According to my grandmother about 90% of her family has it, so it's very prevalent in my family. And the doc wrote down my symptoms, felt of my hands, and pretty much confirmed it. We're just waiting on the blood work to make it official, but we know for sure I have some form of arthritis.
My rash seems to just be eczema, and he gave me a cream for it. I have a pill for the arthritis so hopefully that'll help too.
So now we know... And knowing's half the battle!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Houses
We went to look at the house today. Well, it's a mobile home, but anyway, it's a great place. We're trying to decide whether or not to make an offer... Well, there's still more time for that.
There's another house almost across the street from that one. It's 1848 square feet, so it's HUGE. The master bedroom is probably twice the size of mine and I know the master bath could fit both of my bathrooms inside it. They're asking $100k but it's totally not worth that--a coat of paint and new carpet just doesn't equal a hundred-thousand-dollar house, considering the guy bought it for under $50k. We're considering putting a low offer on it just to see if he'd take it.
So that's what's going on right now. We might look at a couple other places but I'm not sure. Later, if I have time, I might put a few pictures up.
There's another house almost across the street from that one. It's 1848 square feet, so it's HUGE. The master bedroom is probably twice the size of mine and I know the master bath could fit both of my bathrooms inside it. They're asking $100k but it's totally not worth that--a coat of paint and new carpet just doesn't equal a hundred-thousand-dollar house, considering the guy bought it for under $50k. We're considering putting a low offer on it just to see if he'd take it.
So that's what's going on right now. We might look at a couple other places but I'm not sure. Later, if I have time, I might put a few pictures up.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
More excitement!
Friday we meet with our real estate agent and, assuming we have enough time, we go see the first house on our list. Maybe we'll go see others... I'm not sure, mostly because I'm not really sure how this works. I'm SO EXCITED! I'm almost dizzy--if we really like this place and they like our offer, we could possibly be in a new home by Thanksgiving or Christmas... If we don't like it, we're still moving in the right direction! It's just really exciting, overall.
I'm in a constant state of internal "happy dance". It's such a weird feeling for me--I try so hard most of the time not to get excited over things because they rarely work out. But this has my head spinning--even if this house doesn't pan out, there's others out there and eventually we'll find something perfect for us. So there's really no reason not to be excited. For once, barring something catastrophic happening, I actually have something to deeply look forward to.
The last time I was this excited about something was when I was pregnant with Sweet'ums. That was probably the last time anything life-changing in a positive way happened to us. Hopefully, this will be positive, and hopefully it'll work out.
I'm gonna go now... but I just wanted to share.
I'm in a constant state of internal "happy dance". It's such a weird feeling for me--I try so hard most of the time not to get excited over things because they rarely work out. But this has my head spinning--even if this house doesn't pan out, there's others out there and eventually we'll find something perfect for us. So there's really no reason not to be excited. For once, barring something catastrophic happening, I actually have something to deeply look forward to.
The last time I was this excited about something was when I was pregnant with Sweet'ums. That was probably the last time anything life-changing in a positive way happened to us. Hopefully, this will be positive, and hopefully it'll work out.
I'm gonna go now... but I just wanted to share.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Claudette
So apparently, they upgraded it to a tropical storm today at noon. So now Claudette is sitting right next to us. Fortunately it'll miss my area, and it doesn't look like it has time to develop into anything too serious, but the Panhandle folks will be in my prayers the next couple days.
In other news, I have a strange child. She stayed up all night the night before last, chatting away in her room. I'm not sure what she was saying or who she was talking to, but she kept us up all night. Then tonight, she slept all night, until noon! I had to go get her up so she wouldn't sleep the day away. I have no clue what's up with this kid. Anyone have any insight?
I'm also trying to figure out this whole home-buying process. It seems kind of complicated and while I'm still doing my reading, it's definitely a little overwhelming. We've found a couple backup places, if for no reason but to keep us from getting our hearts set on something that might not pan out. If this place doesn't happen, we'll keep looking... AAAHHH!!! This is crazy. Anyone have any advice that might simplify this process?
In other news, I have a strange child. She stayed up all night the night before last, chatting away in her room. I'm not sure what she was saying or who she was talking to, but she kept us up all night. Then tonight, she slept all night, until noon! I had to go get her up so she wouldn't sleep the day away. I have no clue what's up with this kid. Anyone have any insight?
I'm also trying to figure out this whole home-buying process. It seems kind of complicated and while I'm still doing my reading, it's definitely a little overwhelming. We've found a couple backup places, if for no reason but to keep us from getting our hearts set on something that might not pan out. If this place doesn't happen, we'll keep looking... AAAHHH!!! This is crazy. Anyone have any advice that might simplify this process?
Oops, sorry about that
I reread my post from last night. I didn't mean to sound so dramatic! I mean, it's kind of dramatic and surreal in hindsight, but I didn't mean to write it that way.
What's funny is that right now we have a tropical depression (possibly a tropical storm, according to weather reports) sitting off our coast right now. That explains the gusty winds...
What's funny is that right now we have a tropical depression (possibly a tropical storm, according to weather reports) sitting off our coast right now. That explains the gusty winds...
Storms
I've been thinking back to the fall of 2004. It was a busy year for me, since I'd just graduated high school. When Charley hit, I was preparing my things to move into my dorm in college. I'd spent the week prior with a friend and was forced to come home because her family lived in Tampa, where the storm was supposed to hit. My family lives further inland and didn't want me being so close to the coast, so my dad made the drive to come get me. We came home, prepared the house and our animals, and packed up our things to go down to our church down the street, which would be much more stable during such a storm. Sometime during all of this, Charley made the turn.
We actually managed to have some fun during the course of the storm. We played cards and listened to the radio, and hung out with the pastor and his wife. We went to bed when the power went out, but I never could sleep during a storm. I laid awake and listened to the wind howling outside and the glass doors rattling in their frames.
It was a lot worse than they said it would be. My family never takes the storms lightly, but we always take the forecasters with a grain of salt, too, because of incidents just like this one. We were prepared for the glancing blow we were supposed to get, not the full-on impact we got as it moved across the state. What we got can't compare to the impact in Port Charlotte, but because of the flat lay of the land surrounding my home area so many homes there were obliterated. It was so strange, seeing dozens and dozens of grandfather oaks, some of them over a hundred years old, uprooted and twisted and mangled. My family was spared, for the most part--our home suffered only minor damage, although we wouldn't be quite as lucky in the storms to come--but so many families still haven't recovered from the damage they suffered, from Port Charlotte to Orlando to Stuart to the Lake Buffum area, where the paths of the storms crossed (not but maybe two dozen miles from my family home).
We'd have Frances and finally Jeanne in the weeks to come, not counting the close calls we had with a number of tropical storms. Of them all Jeanne was the worst for us, as it caused a fair amount of damage to our storm-weary home. My college lost somewhere between two and three weeks of class time, which we had to make up in weekend classes. We spent two and a half weeks without electricity over the course of a little over six weeks (44 days, I believe) and got somewhere in the ballpark of thirty inches of rain locally.
And while Charley was bad, especially for the folks in Charlotte County, the total damage from all the storms together was unbelievable. Some people suffered damage initially from Charley, and by the time Jeanne had finished doing her thing what had been minor problems into major problems. It was hard to tell by the end of it all where the damage from one storm ended and the damage from the next began.
Anyway, that's the end of my walk down memory lane. I don't want to forget it, because it was a learning experience for me and I never want to forget the suffering so many people went through, but at the same time, I don't want to dwell on all of it either. I hadn't even planned on saying anything about it all, but in light of our two newly formed tropical storms (Hello, Ana and Bill!) I figured I'd take a moment and respect those who lost everything in that awful fall.
We actually managed to have some fun during the course of the storm. We played cards and listened to the radio, and hung out with the pastor and his wife. We went to bed when the power went out, but I never could sleep during a storm. I laid awake and listened to the wind howling outside and the glass doors rattling in their frames.
It was a lot worse than they said it would be. My family never takes the storms lightly, but we always take the forecasters with a grain of salt, too, because of incidents just like this one. We were prepared for the glancing blow we were supposed to get, not the full-on impact we got as it moved across the state. What we got can't compare to the impact in Port Charlotte, but because of the flat lay of the land surrounding my home area so many homes there were obliterated. It was so strange, seeing dozens and dozens of grandfather oaks, some of them over a hundred years old, uprooted and twisted and mangled. My family was spared, for the most part--our home suffered only minor damage, although we wouldn't be quite as lucky in the storms to come--but so many families still haven't recovered from the damage they suffered, from Port Charlotte to Orlando to Stuart to the Lake Buffum area, where the paths of the storms crossed (not but maybe two dozen miles from my family home).
We'd have Frances and finally Jeanne in the weeks to come, not counting the close calls we had with a number of tropical storms. Of them all Jeanne was the worst for us, as it caused a fair amount of damage to our storm-weary home. My college lost somewhere between two and three weeks of class time, which we had to make up in weekend classes. We spent two and a half weeks without electricity over the course of a little over six weeks (44 days, I believe) and got somewhere in the ballpark of thirty inches of rain locally.
And while Charley was bad, especially for the folks in Charlotte County, the total damage from all the storms together was unbelievable. Some people suffered damage initially from Charley, and by the time Jeanne had finished doing her thing what had been minor problems into major problems. It was hard to tell by the end of it all where the damage from one storm ended and the damage from the next began.
Anyway, that's the end of my walk down memory lane. I don't want to forget it, because it was a learning experience for me and I never want to forget the suffering so many people went through, but at the same time, I don't want to dwell on all of it either. I hadn't even planned on saying anything about it all, but in light of our two newly formed tropical storms (Hello, Ana and Bill!) I figured I'd take a moment and respect those who lost everything in that awful fall.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
What does a girl have to do to get some sleep around here?
We had a rough night with Sweet'ums last night. She refused to sleep, choosing instead to lay awake in her bed all night chatting away. I'm not sure if she was talking in her sleep, or what she was saying or who she was saying it to. The pattern of her talking made it seem like she was awake, because she'd stop for fifteen minutes or so every now and then like she'd fallen asleep. Tonight I'll stick my head in and try to see if she's awake or not... Last night I was afraid to, because if she was awake I'd rather her be happy but resting rather than upset because she saw Mommy. So we'll see.
Then there's our house hunt. The $30k house had some major structural issues, so it's a no-go. We've found something else we like as well, so we might be checking it out. It's a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1296 square foot mobile home on about 2/3 of an acre, zoned for good schools in what seems to be a fairly nice neighborhood. It's a 2001, which means it'll be up to the more current hurricane codes. They're asking $80k, which is a little more than we're in a hurry to pay, but we think we can get them to come down on the price a bit considering the current market. But I've still got a ton of homework to do. We'll see if this is going to be something we can do.
We've also got two tropical storms out there, both of which have the potential to come our way. I've lived here so long now that the prospect really isn't scary anymore, just stressful. There's so much to do when a storm heads your way.
So that's what's going on right now. My friends' parents are both recovering well and getting stronger. I haven't heard from either of them in a few days so I've got some phone calls to make tomorrow, but anyway, I'll update if anything changes.
Then there's our house hunt. The $30k house had some major structural issues, so it's a no-go. We've found something else we like as well, so we might be checking it out. It's a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1296 square foot mobile home on about 2/3 of an acre, zoned for good schools in what seems to be a fairly nice neighborhood. It's a 2001, which means it'll be up to the more current hurricane codes. They're asking $80k, which is a little more than we're in a hurry to pay, but we think we can get them to come down on the price a bit considering the current market. But I've still got a ton of homework to do. We'll see if this is going to be something we can do.
We've also got two tropical storms out there, both of which have the potential to come our way. I've lived here so long now that the prospect really isn't scary anymore, just stressful. There's so much to do when a storm heads your way.
So that's what's going on right now. My friends' parents are both recovering well and getting stronger. I haven't heard from either of them in a few days so I've got some phone calls to make tomorrow, but anyway, I'll update if anything changes.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Finally, for some great news!
I've been posting a lot of downers lately, so I'm here tonight with some exciting news (at least, for us!):
We have been approved for a mortgage up to $100k!!! We don't plan to get a house that would require the full amount, but I've already found a really cute place for (get this!) $30,000. Our monthly payments would be less than $100 a month. Our lot rent is $281 a month, so since the monthly payments would be right about $90, I could practically triple up on payments and have it paid off in ten years. That would be awesome!
Sweet'ums would go to a good school and it's a straight shot for NG to get to work. It's pretty much in the middle of town, so it's easy access to EVERYTHING. There's plenty of job opportunities locally so I wouldn't have to travel far to go to work.
I'm not going to just jump on it, but it's an exciting start. I'm just tickled that we actually got approval! Considering how poorly things were looking, I'm glad for any kind of picker-upper. Obviously, this helped my mood a great deal.
I'm still a bit down about the medical stuff but we're trying to figure out where to go from here and I'm trying hard to not be so gloomy over it. It'll work out.
What is everyone else up to these days?
We have been approved for a mortgage up to $100k!!! We don't plan to get a house that would require the full amount, but I've already found a really cute place for (get this!) $30,000. Our monthly payments would be less than $100 a month. Our lot rent is $281 a month, so since the monthly payments would be right about $90, I could practically triple up on payments and have it paid off in ten years. That would be awesome!
Sweet'ums would go to a good school and it's a straight shot for NG to get to work. It's pretty much in the middle of town, so it's easy access to EVERYTHING. There's plenty of job opportunities locally so I wouldn't have to travel far to go to work.
I'm not going to just jump on it, but it's an exciting start. I'm just tickled that we actually got approval! Considering how poorly things were looking, I'm glad for any kind of picker-upper. Obviously, this helped my mood a great deal.
I'm still a bit down about the medical stuff but we're trying to figure out where to go from here and I'm trying hard to not be so gloomy over it. It'll work out.
What is everyone else up to these days?
Thursday, August 6, 2009
They didn't find anything
So apparently, my lower internal organs are great. Which is good, except that now I'm back at square one. I'm frustrated, and tired, and I feel like crying.
I haven't heard any new news about the friends' parents. As soon as I do I'll post more.
I haven't heard any new news about the friends' parents. As soon as I do I'll post more.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Friends' parents and other things
So my friend's mom is doing really well. She's still in the ICU but she's recovering really well and should be fine.
No sooner had I posted on here the other day about my best friend's mom did I get the information about my other best friend's dad: He had a heart attack, has 90% blockage in 2 or 3 arteries, and is now scheduled for a triple bypass on Thursday. So keep him in your prayers too.
Tomorrow I go for my big appointment to find out what they saw on that ultrasound. I'm tired (not sleeping well)... Not feeling very good (almost feel pregnant, but tests sayeth nay)... I'm dreading tomorrow. I don't know what to expect, and I'm just too tired to deal with it right now. Ugh.
I've been working on cleaning house as well. A blog I've been reading lately (thanks, Wolfie!) is having a cleaning challenge, which I wanted to participate in, but I ended up spending most of my week curled up on the couch with my almost-2 year old taking advantage of my condition and pouncing on me. We cleaned up the hallway and Sweet'ums' bathroom (which she shares with our cats, so it gets rather messy sometimes) and tonight we'll finish up the kitchen. The living room and the grown-ups' bedroom will just have to wait. Anyway, I get more done in our room when Nice Guy is working nights, so it gives me plenty of opportunity.
So... Anyone want to take bets on what the doctor has to say? Keep in mind: "We can't find anything " isn't necessarily good news at this point. NG has his money on fibroids. Mine is on mysterious, sneaky triplets, who are waiting for the moment when we're at our broke-est to make their appearance: "Oh, wait, how did those get in there?" Sweet'ums says she thinks the doctor left his pocketwatch in there when she was born.
Well, I guess we find out tomorrow.
No sooner had I posted on here the other day about my best friend's mom did I get the information about my other best friend's dad: He had a heart attack, has 90% blockage in 2 or 3 arteries, and is now scheduled for a triple bypass on Thursday. So keep him in your prayers too.
Tomorrow I go for my big appointment to find out what they saw on that ultrasound. I'm tired (not sleeping well)... Not feeling very good (almost feel pregnant, but tests sayeth nay)... I'm dreading tomorrow. I don't know what to expect, and I'm just too tired to deal with it right now. Ugh.
I've been working on cleaning house as well. A blog I've been reading lately (thanks, Wolfie!) is having a cleaning challenge, which I wanted to participate in, but I ended up spending most of my week curled up on the couch with my almost-2 year old taking advantage of my condition and pouncing on me. We cleaned up the hallway and Sweet'ums' bathroom (which she shares with our cats, so it gets rather messy sometimes) and tonight we'll finish up the kitchen. The living room and the grown-ups' bedroom will just have to wait. Anyway, I get more done in our room when Nice Guy is working nights, so it gives me plenty of opportunity.
So... Anyone want to take bets on what the doctor has to say? Keep in mind: "We can't find anything " isn't necessarily good news at this point. NG has his money on fibroids. Mine is on mysterious, sneaky triplets, who are waiting for the moment when we're at our broke-est to make their appearance: "Oh, wait, how did those get in there?" Sweet'ums says she thinks the doctor left his pocketwatch in there when she was born.
Well, I guess we find out tomorrow.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Please Pray
My best friend's mom just had an aneurysm. They're taking her into surgery now. My friend is in El Paso and is trying to get a flight home. I don't know any details right now, but I'll post as soon as I know.
Those of you out there who are praying people, please pray.
Those of you out there who are praying people, please pray.
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