In my last post, I mentioned that the underside of our toilets were covered in black mold. Today, I decided to tackle the task of cleaning off said mold. I grabbed some gloves, my Lysol wipes, paper towels, and the mold cleaner spray. I cleaned the hall bathroom toilet first. I scrubbed, wiped, sprayed, and wiped again. Done. Then, I installed the over-the-toilet DampRid thingie to help keep moisture out and prevent mold from growing. After that was done, I went into our small bathroom (the one off the master bedroom) and did the same thing. The mold under that toilet wasn't half as bad as the hall bathroom... so... yay! I just cleaned what was there and I was done.
But... while I was in there, I noticed the peel-n-stick bathroom tile that was in our bathroom was drying out and starting to lift up... so I looked... and WOW. The flooring underneath was fine, just REALLY dated and REALLY ugly. Go team. I'll have to post a picture of it later. Let's just say I'm looking forward to peeling up all the flooring eventually and seeing what can be done.
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On another topic, my last remaining grandparent passed away on Feb. 11th, just three days shy of her 94th birthday. Apparently, she took a turn for the worst around Christmas... she wasn't able to attend my wedding and she wasn't able to see the pictures due to her poor eyesight. She wasn't my favorite grandmother, but she was my dad's mom.
With this in mind, my dad decided to purchase a Corvette. It's a 1999 Torch Red Corvette with a red/black modified interior and a hood scoop. It's a nice little car... he's going to enjoy driving it and I'm going to enjoy visiting. :) haha! Needless to say, my mom isn't very excited about this purchase, but he's hoping she will come around, seeing as how the Corvette is an automatic...!
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I have found the one treat that my picky cat, Grimm, TRULY enjoys: Greenies Tuna flavor. He LOVES them. I couldn't believe it- he actually begged for treats today! Odin will eat anything you put in front of him, so I never worry about him liking or disliking treats.
Grimm has also become more social lately. He's been sitting on my lap, purring, and he wakes me up every morning to snuggle. He's such a sweet cat... it's just taken him a little time to finally show it. Grimm has also been out and about more when we have friends over. Maybe he is finally "ok" with Odin and the new house...?
Odin is still a spazz... He runs around the house like his tail is on fire! He runs laps, up and down the hallway, thru the kitchen, around the entertainment center, up the back of the recliner, and back down the hallway. He's insane... but after he's calmed down, he's asleep on my lap, usually under the blanket.
-----
We've been married for a little over 7 weeks now. Nothing feels any different.
I'm still looking for a job. I've had several interviews, even a few second interviews, but still no job. I'm starting to get discouraged...
We got our tax rebate and with some of the money, we bought an LED TV. It's nice... a little too real at times, but nice. :)
-----
I think that's it for now...!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
So... Angry....!!!
Second blog in a day. Weird.
Moving on...
ANGER! GRR!
I was watching the local news tonight and I saw a story about a guy who had his new credit card stolen right out of his mailbox. He went to the NEWS to report this incident and asked if THEY could help him find the person(s) responsible. Well, the news contacted the stores at which the card had been used and the store released the footage and two people were found using the card- their faces were shown on the news tonight.
And that made me think...
My ENTIRE WALLET was stolen in May 2008. Credit cards, social security card, driver's license, insurance information, even my library card and cash... ALL gone. I only found out because I needed my checkbook for something and when I looked for it in my purse, I didn't see my wallet... I checked my car and it wasn't there either. I looked online and saw hundreds of dollars being spent on ALL of my cards- I *immediately* called my credit card companies... not the news, not the police, the cards. When I called the cancel them, they told me when and where the cards were last used so I could call the cops and be able to get video footage in order to press charges against the person(s). After calling all of the credit and debit card companies, I called the police. I gave them all the information the credit card companies had given me, but the detective didn't seem to care. In fact, he said it happens everyday and there was "no way" to track that kind of stuff down and to just cancel my cards and file something with the credit agencies that said my cards were stolen and to join a credit theft program (like LifeLock).
So I did. I joined LifeLock, I reported myself as a "stolen identity" to the credit agencies, and I canceled all of my cards and got new ones. I never heard from the detective again; I don't know if anything has been found/returned to the police. I called the stores at which my cards were used (Fred Meyer store on 20th Street) and I called Tri-Met, since they used my cards to buy Max tickets... but NO ONE would release video surveillance footage to me or the police. In fact, when I told the police they should call and get the footage, they didn't seem to give a rat's ass.
Well, I am regretting my decision in trusting the police AGAIN. The first time I trusted them, my car was wrecked with blood evidence everywhere and the cops wouldn't do anything- they weren't even willing to check local hospitals for patients with recent head wounds. They told me, "We're not CSI, ma'am." They filed a report, but NOTHING came of that one, either... well, other than my car being totaled by my insurance company and me spending money to get my car fixed so I could drive it again and me not having a car for over TWO MONTHS because the jackasses that fixed it took their sweet-ass time. GRR. ANGER.
I should have called the local news station when my wallet was stolen and maybe they could have helped my find the person(s) responsible for stealing my entire wallet, not just one card out of my mailbox. I contacted the news station's "problem solver" and we'll see if she responds. If not, I feel like calling the news station tomorrow and asking them how that guy managed to get what I couldn't, help. Is he loaded with cash, sleep with the news anchor, or give the manager of Fred Meyer a blowjob...? Either way, I'd like my video surveillance footage so I can press charges against the asshole(s) that took MY wallet!!
*end rant*
Moving on...
ANGER! GRR!
I was watching the local news tonight and I saw a story about a guy who had his new credit card stolen right out of his mailbox. He went to the NEWS to report this incident and asked if THEY could help him find the person(s) responsible. Well, the news contacted the stores at which the card had been used and the store released the footage and two people were found using the card- their faces were shown on the news tonight.
And that made me think...
My ENTIRE WALLET was stolen in May 2008. Credit cards, social security card, driver's license, insurance information, even my library card and cash... ALL gone. I only found out because I needed my checkbook for something and when I looked for it in my purse, I didn't see my wallet... I checked my car and it wasn't there either. I looked online and saw hundreds of dollars being spent on ALL of my cards- I *immediately* called my credit card companies... not the news, not the police, the cards. When I called the cancel them, they told me when and where the cards were last used so I could call the cops and be able to get video footage in order to press charges against the person(s). After calling all of the credit and debit card companies, I called the police. I gave them all the information the credit card companies had given me, but the detective didn't seem to care. In fact, he said it happens everyday and there was "no way" to track that kind of stuff down and to just cancel my cards and file something with the credit agencies that said my cards were stolen and to join a credit theft program (like LifeLock).
So I did. I joined LifeLock, I reported myself as a "stolen identity" to the credit agencies, and I canceled all of my cards and got new ones. I never heard from the detective again; I don't know if anything has been found/returned to the police. I called the stores at which my cards were used (Fred Meyer store on 20th Street) and I called Tri-Met, since they used my cards to buy Max tickets... but NO ONE would release video surveillance footage to me or the police. In fact, when I told the police they should call and get the footage, they didn't seem to give a rat's ass.
Well, I am regretting my decision in trusting the police AGAIN. The first time I trusted them, my car was wrecked with blood evidence everywhere and the cops wouldn't do anything- they weren't even willing to check local hospitals for patients with recent head wounds. They told me, "We're not CSI, ma'am." They filed a report, but NOTHING came of that one, either... well, other than my car being totaled by my insurance company and me spending money to get my car fixed so I could drive it again and me not having a car for over TWO MONTHS because the jackasses that fixed it took their sweet-ass time. GRR. ANGER.
I should have called the local news station when my wallet was stolen and maybe they could have helped my find the person(s) responsible for stealing my entire wallet, not just one card out of my mailbox. I contacted the news station's "problem solver" and we'll see if she responds. If not, I feel like calling the news station tomorrow and asking them how that guy managed to get what I couldn't, help. Is he loaded with cash, sleep with the news anchor, or give the manager of Fred Meyer a blowjob...? Either way, I'd like my video surveillance footage so I can press charges against the asshole(s) that took MY wallet!!
*end rant*
An Ode to Cleaning
Today was a sad day for me as I watched friends leave to re-start their lives in Utah...
I decided since I was up and somewhat caffeinated, I would clean my bathroom... since it's been needing a good cleaning for a while now and I haven't done it because, "It's our bathroom- no one uses it but us."
The ceiling of our bathroom has had small specks of mold growing on it since we bought the house. We figured it was no big deal- we'd clean it and all would be fine. Well, we never cleaned it and it didn't seem to get any worse. Then, our bathroom fan stopped working and we noticed it got worse, especially after the wedding. So today, I decided to scrub the ceiling with this mold cleaner stuff (it also prevents new mold from growing). I got most of it off with my little scrubber, but not all of it because of the stupid texture on the ceiling... the mold liked the small, tiny crevices in the ceiling texture. Imagine that.
Every time I clean or Sam goes to fix something, we discover something new that the previous owners attempted to fix or change... but they FAILED... miserably. If these people actually think they "fixed" the house, they are sadly mistaken and they need to be blacklisted from ALL home improvement stores across the nation. He/She/They SUCK at do-it-yourself stuff. Anyway...
I cleaned the ceiling. Check. Then, I decided it was time to tackle the shower. We apparently have very "rusty" water in Portland because we have a beautiful, reddish shower. Yay. I grabbed the Mr. Clean and a sponge and tackled that. While cleaning, I noticed that the seal around the shower wasn't really there anymore... it had been scrubbed away. Weird, right? Nope... not when you consider the idiots who most likely put the seal down in the first place. I'm glad we bought some tub/shower caulk at Home Depot the other day...!
I cleaned the shower. Check. Then, I thought it would be good to clean the floor... until I remembered that's the LAST thing I should clean because I don't want to get my dirty, wet feet all over a nice, clean floor. So, I decided to clean the toilet instead. I grabbed the blue goo and squirted it around the bowl and then I grabbed my all-natural cleaner to wipe down the outside. As I was cleaning, I noticed the toilet tank was very wet... I kept cleaning. I thought, "Well, if the front of the tank is this wet, I wonder how wet the bottom of the tank is..." And honestly, I could have lived without knowing the answer to that thought.
OMG HOLY BLACK MOLD, BATMAN! GROSS!
It's everywhere. All under the tank, along the hose that leads to the wall... it was even dripping onto the floor, hence why our floor tiles have been kinda damp and seeping water between the cracks... also why our floor looked so dirty behind the toilet and why I thought, "No one uses this bathroom but us so why clean it?"
Yes, ANOTHER thing those people messed up... they never sealed the peel-n-stick floor tiles... they just simply peeled-n-sticked. Nice, eh? So now the sticky is lifting up because there's water underneath... and probably mold, too. GROSS! Anyway...
When I saw the gross blackness that used to be a white paper towel... I looked under the toilet tank and saw the most disgusting thing I've seen in a while. I threw the paper towel in the trash and started cleaning the floor. F*ck it. I just want a new toilet at this point. This is ridiculous... I'm not cleaning that and I know Sam definitely isn't going to. I scrubbed the inside of the toilet bowl and called it a day.
I cleaned the floor. Check. Then, I decided to scrape off the remaining border (and glue) in the bathroom. I sprayed on that fancy blue enzyme stuff and let it sit for a while. In the meantime, I took apart the behind-the-toilet shelf thing that we've been using as a towel rack. My eventual task: take down that HUGE mirror (it's a TINY bathroom, you didn't fool anyone) and put in towel racks, after painting of course. After that thing was in the garage, I went back to scrape off the border. In the process, I noticed I was scraping off PAINT... and a little bit of the actual wall, too!
Yes, another fun fact about this house: These people also had NO idea how to paint, let it dry, and then do something. They also had NO idea how to use wallpaper, borders, or wallpaper glue/paste. Combine the two and that's what had happened in our bathroom. We found out about the wallpaper paste when we tore down the butcher paper in the back bedroom... and we found out they don't like to let things dry before doing something else, also in the back bedroom when we found butcher paper glued to the drywall tape/putty. Time for round 2 in our bathroom, I guess. Anyway...
I got off what I could of the remaining border and glue and left the rest to be sanded. I cleaned the sink, the counter, and the mirror and I was DONE. Then I looked to my right and noticed the medicine cabinet mirror... it was a little dirty, so I cleaned that too... only to find out that the color of the wood was rubbing off with the glass cleaner... and there was rust on the hinges.
Again, WHY would you put metal hinges in a bathroom that you KNOW has water/dampness issues... and why a wooden medicine cabinet that will eventually warp, especially if the wood wasn't properly stained and sealed? /sigh If I see either of the two jerks who "fixed" this house, I'm going to ask them, "What the F*CK were you thinking?!!" Anyway...
I was DONE. Really done. Finished.
I thought I'd go into the hall bathroom and clean that as well. I grabbed all the towels, bathmats, and other assorted things and started a load of laundry. I headed back to the bathroom and thought I'd start with the toilet and clean from there... maybe the floor and later the sink and counter. As I'm cleaning, I notice a LOT of water behind the toilet... so I look... and BOOM!
More delicious black mold... and not just mold, but wet, dripping, gross black mold. Yum.
I didn't even wipe it off. F*ck it. Again, I want a new toilet. I'm not cleaning that- it's worse than in our bathroom (believe it or not, it is)...!! I cleaned the floor and the sink and I got out of there. I cannot believe that BOTH toilets have black mold growing under the toilet tanks! YUCK!
Needless to say, I am done cleaning for now. I might clean more tomorrow, but for now... I'm done. We'll see what Sam says when he comes home tonight and sees the science experiment gone wrong that's under our toilet.
On another note, our house guests left this morning for Utah. A friend of ours and her daughter were staying with us for a week or so until they got their feet on the ground. I'm glad we were able to help them when they needed it most. I was sad to see them go, but I know they're going somewhere more stable than where they've been and they NEED that right now... and they'll have a dog. :) hehe Not only that, but it will give the daughter an opportunity to finish high school and prepare for COLLEGE... I hope she listened to what I had to say about that. Just remember- Portland has some pretty awesome colleges. ;) It will also give her mom a chance to find a job (hopefully) and be able to get her independence back.
I love you both and I wish you both the very, very best.
You know you'll always have a home in Portland with us.
*hugs*
I decided since I was up and somewhat caffeinated, I would clean my bathroom... since it's been needing a good cleaning for a while now and I haven't done it because, "It's our bathroom- no one uses it but us."
The ceiling of our bathroom has had small specks of mold growing on it since we bought the house. We figured it was no big deal- we'd clean it and all would be fine. Well, we never cleaned it and it didn't seem to get any worse. Then, our bathroom fan stopped working and we noticed it got worse, especially after the wedding. So today, I decided to scrub the ceiling with this mold cleaner stuff (it also prevents new mold from growing). I got most of it off with my little scrubber, but not all of it because of the stupid texture on the ceiling... the mold liked the small, tiny crevices in the ceiling texture. Imagine that.
Every time I clean or Sam goes to fix something, we discover something new that the previous owners attempted to fix or change... but they FAILED... miserably. If these people actually think they "fixed" the house, they are sadly mistaken and they need to be blacklisted from ALL home improvement stores across the nation. He/She/They SUCK at do-it-yourself stuff. Anyway...
I cleaned the ceiling. Check. Then, I decided it was time to tackle the shower. We apparently have very "rusty" water in Portland because we have a beautiful, reddish shower. Yay. I grabbed the Mr. Clean and a sponge and tackled that. While cleaning, I noticed that the seal around the shower wasn't really there anymore... it had been scrubbed away. Weird, right? Nope... not when you consider the idiots who most likely put the seal down in the first place. I'm glad we bought some tub/shower caulk at Home Depot the other day...!
I cleaned the shower. Check. Then, I thought it would be good to clean the floor... until I remembered that's the LAST thing I should clean because I don't want to get my dirty, wet feet all over a nice, clean floor. So, I decided to clean the toilet instead. I grabbed the blue goo and squirted it around the bowl and then I grabbed my all-natural cleaner to wipe down the outside. As I was cleaning, I noticed the toilet tank was very wet... I kept cleaning. I thought, "Well, if the front of the tank is this wet, I wonder how wet the bottom of the tank is..." And honestly, I could have lived without knowing the answer to that thought.
OMG HOLY BLACK MOLD, BATMAN! GROSS!
It's everywhere. All under the tank, along the hose that leads to the wall... it was even dripping onto the floor, hence why our floor tiles have been kinda damp and seeping water between the cracks... also why our floor looked so dirty behind the toilet and why I thought, "No one uses this bathroom but us so why clean it?"
Yes, ANOTHER thing those people messed up... they never sealed the peel-n-stick floor tiles... they just simply peeled-n-sticked. Nice, eh? So now the sticky is lifting up because there's water underneath... and probably mold, too. GROSS! Anyway...
When I saw the gross blackness that used to be a white paper towel... I looked under the toilet tank and saw the most disgusting thing I've seen in a while. I threw the paper towel in the trash and started cleaning the floor. F*ck it. I just want a new toilet at this point. This is ridiculous... I'm not cleaning that and I know Sam definitely isn't going to. I scrubbed the inside of the toilet bowl and called it a day.
I cleaned the floor. Check. Then, I decided to scrape off the remaining border (and glue) in the bathroom. I sprayed on that fancy blue enzyme stuff and let it sit for a while. In the meantime, I took apart the behind-the-toilet shelf thing that we've been using as a towel rack. My eventual task: take down that HUGE mirror (it's a TINY bathroom, you didn't fool anyone) and put in towel racks, after painting of course. After that thing was in the garage, I went back to scrape off the border. In the process, I noticed I was scraping off PAINT... and a little bit of the actual wall, too!
Yes, another fun fact about this house: These people also had NO idea how to paint, let it dry, and then do something. They also had NO idea how to use wallpaper, borders, or wallpaper glue/paste. Combine the two and that's what had happened in our bathroom. We found out about the wallpaper paste when we tore down the butcher paper in the back bedroom... and we found out they don't like to let things dry before doing something else, also in the back bedroom when we found butcher paper glued to the drywall tape/putty. Time for round 2 in our bathroom, I guess. Anyway...
I got off what I could of the remaining border and glue and left the rest to be sanded. I cleaned the sink, the counter, and the mirror and I was DONE. Then I looked to my right and noticed the medicine cabinet mirror... it was a little dirty, so I cleaned that too... only to find out that the color of the wood was rubbing off with the glass cleaner... and there was rust on the hinges.
Again, WHY would you put metal hinges in a bathroom that you KNOW has water/dampness issues... and why a wooden medicine cabinet that will eventually warp, especially if the wood wasn't properly stained and sealed? /sigh If I see either of the two jerks who "fixed" this house, I'm going to ask them, "What the F*CK were you thinking?!!" Anyway...
I was DONE. Really done. Finished.
I thought I'd go into the hall bathroom and clean that as well. I grabbed all the towels, bathmats, and other assorted things and started a load of laundry. I headed back to the bathroom and thought I'd start with the toilet and clean from there... maybe the floor and later the sink and counter. As I'm cleaning, I notice a LOT of water behind the toilet... so I look... and BOOM!
More delicious black mold... and not just mold, but wet, dripping, gross black mold. Yum.
I didn't even wipe it off. F*ck it. Again, I want a new toilet. I'm not cleaning that- it's worse than in our bathroom (believe it or not, it is)...!! I cleaned the floor and the sink and I got out of there. I cannot believe that BOTH toilets have black mold growing under the toilet tanks! YUCK!
Needless to say, I am done cleaning for now. I might clean more tomorrow, but for now... I'm done. We'll see what Sam says when he comes home tonight and sees the science experiment gone wrong that's under our toilet.
On another note, our house guests left this morning for Utah. A friend of ours and her daughter were staying with us for a week or so until they got their feet on the ground. I'm glad we were able to help them when they needed it most. I was sad to see them go, but I know they're going somewhere more stable than where they've been and they NEED that right now... and they'll have a dog. :) hehe Not only that, but it will give the daughter an opportunity to finish high school and prepare for COLLEGE... I hope she listened to what I had to say about that. Just remember- Portland has some pretty awesome colleges. ;) It will also give her mom a chance to find a job (hopefully) and be able to get her independence back.
I love you both and I wish you both the very, very best.
You know you'll always have a home in Portland with us.
*hugs*
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Vivid Dreams
Lately, I've been having a lot of crazy dreams. I've been posting short summaries to Twitter on occasion and I'm sure the people involved are wondering, "WTF?!" Believe me, I am too. Here are a few of the ones I can remember:
Sam and I were given a ransom note. We had to bake a cake with chocolate frosting and go to a Shell station to buy sunglasses and a baseball cap before meeting our "contact." We were given specific instructions to go to Stater Brothers market to acquire the cake and frosting; however, the market was under construction and we didn't know where things had been moved. We finally found the baking section, with help from an employee, and Sam was very stubborn on the type of cake we were going to buy (I grabbed sugar free white cake mix and he grabbed regular white cake mix). We got in line, but since the lines were too long and we had to be at the meeting point by a certain time, we found another place to purchase our items.
I woke up before we got to the Shell station. Boo!!
I was a "volunteer" maid/room straightener-upper at a fancy hotel. I was in charge of cleaning/straightening up rooms on the 5th level. I walked into a few rooms around 4am to clean and left the message of, "It's 4am. Do you know where your kids are?" for the sleeping parents. My final room of the night turned out to belong to a friend of mine for the evening. Megh and her hubby were in the room, watching TV while I fixed up the room. I fixed the sheets, blankets, and comforter and cleaned off the table, mirror, and bathroom counter. When I was done, I laid on the bed with Megh and watched TV while her hubby sat at the table, doing something that looked like "important" paperwork.
That's just for the past two nights. When I remember more, I'll have to remember to post them. ha!
Sam and I were given a ransom note. We had to bake a cake with chocolate frosting and go to a Shell station to buy sunglasses and a baseball cap before meeting our "contact." We were given specific instructions to go to Stater Brothers market to acquire the cake and frosting; however, the market was under construction and we didn't know where things had been moved. We finally found the baking section, with help from an employee, and Sam was very stubborn on the type of cake we were going to buy (I grabbed sugar free white cake mix and he grabbed regular white cake mix). We got in line, but since the lines were too long and we had to be at the meeting point by a certain time, we found another place to purchase our items.
I woke up before we got to the Shell station. Boo!!
I was a "volunteer" maid/room straightener-upper at a fancy hotel. I was in charge of cleaning/straightening up rooms on the 5th level. I walked into a few rooms around 4am to clean and left the message of, "It's 4am. Do you know where your kids are?" for the sleeping parents. My final room of the night turned out to belong to a friend of mine for the evening. Megh and her hubby were in the room, watching TV while I fixed up the room. I fixed the sheets, blankets, and comforter and cleaned off the table, mirror, and bathroom counter. When I was done, I laid on the bed with Megh and watched TV while her hubby sat at the table, doing something that looked like "important" paperwork.
That's just for the past two nights. When I remember more, I'll have to remember to post them. ha!
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