The Crash

No, we weren't in an accident; but we witnessed a really bad wreck over the weekend. Mr.A has quite a bit of training as a first responder so he was out of our vehicle in a flash helping the injured and directing other bystanders to not touch the injured, while I did my civic duty by calling 9-1-1.

As we come around the bend of the road, we see a tree off to the side of the intersection sway nearly to the ground and see this vehicle sitting in the middle of the intersection (minus the fire/police/EMTs).



As we come to a stop at the intersection, I said, "Holy, crap. This just happened." Just as Mr.A says, "where is the other car?", I point directly to our left and nearly scream, "Oh, My God!", this is what we saw (minus the people outside).

This BMW, had been t-boned, while it was traveling around 50mph, lost control went through probably 50 ft of trees/shrubs and ended up at nearly a 40 degree angle and came to a stop after hitting the cement of an overpass. The woman inside was screaming, trying desperately to get out but her door was jamed. She was frantic (as you can imagine anyone would be), and Mr.A camly helped her through the back drivers side door out to safety.

The first car was driven by an older woman in her 70s with a passenger in her 80s. Both were injured, but conscious and alert. A couple of the bystanders were trying to get the older women out of the car. Mr.A calmly advised them that it would be best for them to stay put. He said that the main reason they got the other woman out of her car was because they didn't know how stable her car was on the incline.

It only took maybe 5-8 minutes for the police and fire crews to get to the scene, but it seemed like much longer. After we felt like we had done all that we could, we continued on our journey. Just a day in the life, I guess.

I've been busy!

I am sorry I've been absent for a little while. I've been sooo busy trying to get the house in order. I do have some photos for your enjoyment. I really wanted to wait to show the house off until everything was complete, but I realize now it could be weeks/months...even years until everything is really how I want it. So I want to show you my two huge projects from the last month.

First is the master bedroom. There was nothing wrong with it before, but I had a vision. The bedding (pic 2) and painting (pic 3) were my inspiration.

Now, my enormous project, the master bathroom/shower. Before (complete with mold stained grout, broken tiles and in unusable condition):

This was an enormous undertaking. We did not DIY, but I did all of the research to make sure that we got exactly what we wanted. I wanted a rain shower head over top, H wanted body jets, I wanted a handheld shower, and a diverter valve that would have single and shared functions (so you could use multiple at the same time), and lastly a built in shampoo/soap shelf. I completely created the design, and purchased all the tile, fixtures, trim and valves.

Now finally, the master bath jaccuzzi. There wasn't anything wrong with the tile, but since we had redone the shower, it needed a face lift too. Before:

And After:

I hope you've enjoyed a look into my new house. Also this is proof to me that once you put a little sweat, tears and money into them, forclosures CAN be your dream house.

Creepy...

(I realize this is my second post tonight, yes I am a little behind, and yes I am in a writing mood)

Tonight, something weird happened. If Mr. A were home, I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but he is out of town tonight.

A young man came to my door tonight around 8:30pm. He was wearing a red (very legitimate looking) embroidered GE t-shirt, had a lanyard and badge around his neck and a clip board. He was talking about how my neighborhood had been pre-wired with ADT when it was built, but that robbers had been known to cut the phone lines connected to the system which would keep ADT from ever being notified of a break in. He then went on to say how GE was going to give away these SIM card-like microchips to maintain the connection no matter what.

At first it seemed like a very normal solicitation. Then he asked if we had our ADT connected currently, lying I said yes. He then asked if my husband was home, lying I said he would be shortly. He then asked if he could come inside out of the heat. Being the naive/friendly person I am, I agreed. As soon as we were in the foyer, I realized my mistake. I hurried and told him that I would need to discuss it with my husband and that he should come back tomorrow. He then looked around my entryway, and asked if he could get a bottle of water/glass of water. Very uncomfortable, I told him no. I felt as though he was trying to "case" the house; first trying to get inside, then trying to get in past the entryway. I asked him to leave.

Immediately, I called my husband. He called ADT to see if any of what he was saying was legitimate then called our local police department. I was not comfortable, and began preparing the house (home-alone [the movie] style). Since we don't have curtains in all of the rooms, I put up some temporary shades and even pinned up some blankets. I got the two pistols out of the gun safe; both have a round in the chamber and are off safe sitting on my night stand. I ensured all of the doors and windows were locked and that the ADT box would chime if any of them were opened.

Since Mr.A had called, A police officer came by to take a statement (at this point I felt like I was over reacting). He said that they had had several complaints from people in our town and that the GE guys were not allowed to solicit after 6pm. He did say that the GE side was legitimate and had permits to canvas the area although legitimate businesses can still have crooked employees. I let him know how the guy was not pushy about the product, but more pushy about getting information and getting inside. He said there were other officers in the neighborhood who had stopped the two guys in our area and he radioed the information from my statement.

I can say, I do feel a little better about it having spoke with a police officer, but it still makes me extremely uneasy.

We've Moved!

Mr.A is finished with training, but has been out of town quite a bit this week. The movers came on Tuesday and loaded the whole house, but it took the entire day.  I drove here on Wednesday, then painted (primer) our ginormous room until nearly 10pm. Thursday, I was determined to get our room completely painted before our furniture was delivered on Friday morning, so I painted all.day.long. Mr.A came home from work when I had one (smaller) wall to go. I asked if he would help me so I could get it finished, grab a shower, and get to bed. He did help but then said, "You owe me". REALLY?!

Needless to say, I was peeved. I have been working my ass off the last 4 months to make all of this happen, so that he could follow his dreams, I have put the career I love in jeopardy once I moved, I sold our house bought a new one, all while traveling nearly every week....then he had the nerve to tell me that I owe him.

In all fairness, I did this to him once before when we moved. I was in training for my new job while he loaded/unloaded/unpacked the entire house by himself. It was set up by the time I got home, and honestly I didn't appreciate all of his hard work until it all fell on me (and I had help from my family AND movers!).

After all of that whining/bitching/moaning, I feel better now. Thanks for listening. [;)]

Just a little update

The move is coming along. We had the inspection on Friday and I am still waiting to hear from the buyers on what they require to be fixed. I am so fortunate that my parents make the nearly 3 hour trip down here, spent my mom's birthday and their anniversary helping me pack and clean, and that my dad knows so much about construction that he could easily fix the minor issues I knew of that would have taken me hours to fix. Hopefully those issues are all that the buyers ask to be fixed.

My parents came down, my brother came to help and Mr.A made the long haul here to help. We spent the weekend packing and cleaning and packing some more.

Everyone is gone now and there it still a little left to do, but I can honestly say I could not have done this without all of their help. I was nearly to the point of throwing in the towel and they got me back on track. Now I am energized and excited to finally move!