No rent refund...

Sorry, I should just keep this to myself, but I'm so angry!

My landlord says that to be "uninhabitable" there has to be storm, fire or earthquake damage. He apologized for the one day of inconvenience next Thursday when the exterminator comes. I informed him that I've already been living with my daughter for 7 days because I couldn't endure the bug bites, which I'm allergic to. I told him I call that uninhabitable, and I'm paying for an apartment I can't live in. I think he's going to slither out of this.

Thanks for listening to my ranting and raving. You guys are swell!

I hope to get my "shalom" back. I'm letting this get to me too much.
Love y'all! :)

Wish I knew who painted this. Can't read the signature! :)

The bedbug drama...

Thanks to all of you who supported me in taking some action concerning the beg bug situation.

Sandra, your reply was extensive, and I wanted to let you know that I agree with you 100% on all of your recommendations. I never went to the clinic, I just toughed it out and used witch hazel and Benadryl ointment, which doesn't help a lot. I actually stayed in the apartment for over a week getting bitten because I expected it to get taken care of speedily, but went to my daughter's when I realized that wasn't happening. I hope I don't need "proof" of my allergies from a doctor. Like it's been said, even an infestation of these critters makes the place uninhabitable, whether a person is allergic or not.

I half expect to have the same experience you did. I will request a refund of rent and my neighbors won't and they'll be wondering why I got a break. Of course, they don't need to know if I don't mention it. But I'll probably advise them to do the same thing.

I've been enjoying my time being part of my kids' household. I think Micah has enjoyed some grown-up company and help with the housework and kids. I'll find out tomorrow how much longer I'll need to be out of the apartment.

Anyone know why Blogger changed the uploading thing for pictures? I'm not given the option of uploading them from my computer, which is the only way I can upload them! Life...why do things keep changing?

Well, I'll talk to you later.
Shalom to all and have a great week! :)

Quick update...

Thanks so much, everyone, for your prayers and sympathy! God is good and changes are coming about.

My son, Josh, is recovering. The virus he has makes it difficult to keep food down, but he says he's praying for healing and an appetite for Power-ade. His Facebook posts show that his sense of humor is still going strong!

My building manager said that an exterminator will be coming on Monday to do an inspection and decide how to handle the bedbugs. I'm thinking of asking my landlord for reimbursement for the time that my apartment was uninhabitable. Everyone else in the building is staying in their apartments, so I must be the only one having an allergic reaction to them. Still, even without the allergy, people shouldn't have to live in infested apartments. So, it looks like I'll be camping with my kids for a while longer. We're managing pretty well and I'm trying to be helpful. :)

My son-in-law just learned of an interesting job opportunity today, and he is planning to look into it. It would be working at a place that constructs prefab houses and they also build log houses, so he might get an opportunity to do some stone masonry on some of those projects. It is close to his present pay and good benefits. He should be able to advance quickly. God is opening doors to better things!

Thanks again for your prayers!
Shalom to all!

Life is being crazy...

So much uproar in our lives right now, but the Lord knows how to lead us, and craziness can sometimes lead to great adventures!

First of all, I've spent the last couple of nights at my daughter Micah's house, along with her hubby Adam and the four grandkids. They live in a single-wide trailer house, so things are cozy and boisterous to say the least! I will be staying as long as necessary until my landlord does a thorough job of ridding my apartment building of bedbugs. Yes, they're back again! The last invasion was in November and I believe only my apartment was treated at that time. This time around they checked everyone's apartments and found at least two that were so heavily infested that the pest control guy didn't even want to enter them! This is a one hundred year old building so it will take some doing to kill off all of the little boogers. Finally, they should be using a heat treatment, which is much more effective than just pesticides. It will be two weeks ago on Friday that I got bitten for the first time. I was  hoping it was just a random spider bite, but more followed. I'm allergic to these little beasts and after receiving 25 or so bites I couldn't hang around. I felt kind of sick for some days, but now the itching is finally fading away and I'm much better. If I didn't like my Nevis location so much I might go in search of another place to live, but I want to be close to Micah and the family. Hopefully things will be taken care of soon. Hazel and Audrey are sharing the top bunk in their bedroom and I'm sleeping on the bottom one. It's working well, and I'm able to visit with Micah and help her with the kids a bit. Tonight they've all gone to AWANA and I stayed home to relax and rest up from all of the exuberance, lol.

In other news, I heard that my son Josh was in the hospital receiving IVs and getting x-rays. Apparently he's been battling one of the tough bugs that have been sweeping across the country. He got sick yesterday while getting out of his car and passed out, face-first on the driveway. He received some bruises and abrasions to his head, but he is okay. They've kept him in the hospital to rehydrate him. He's been working a full-time job and doing school more than full-time, finishing up his masters and doing an accounting course at the same time. I think he's getting run down. Hopefully he will take this as a sign that he needs to look after himself better. He's trying so hard to take care of his family.

Thirdly, my son-in-law, Adam, has been having problems with his boss not getting tax documents to his employees. The boss hasn't been taking care of book work and paychecks as he ought to and after a couple of months of promising to fix things and get the proper W2's to everyone, he still hasn't come through. Besides that paychecks sometimes won't cash the first time through. My son-in-law is at the point of walking out and finding new work. This is a big step for a family with four little ones, but he seriously doesn't think he can continue under the present conditions. This employer has a long history of doing business this way. I'm not sure if he's just irresponsible, lazy...or what. If you met him you would think he was just the nicest Christian man, but the way he treats his workers is terrible. And my son-in-law works very hard as a stone mason. Adam is visiting with an accountant and some family members who might be able to help him decide how to move on from here.

So, we're dealing with things one day at a time, and I'm so glad the Lord is with us no matter where we go.

On a lighter note I wanted to show off my new coffee maker. My Keurig expired a while back, and to tell you the truth, I never drink more than one cup of coffee per day. So, I bought a pack of small coffee filters and found that they fit perfectly in this vintage flour sifter, which in turn fit perfectly in one of my mugs. Voila! Pour hot water onto the coffee grounds and it makes a pretty fine cup o' joe! I had been thinking of buying a Melitta one cup coffee maker, but, heck, this was a lot cheaper! :)

 

Below is my latest 5"x7" canvas for the March Canvas swap. The gal I painted it for loves Irish Wolfhounds, so I tried to make  something with some Irish flavor. It arrived on her doorstep on St. Patrick's Day!

Well, the troops will be back from AWANA soon. I'd sure appreciate any prayers for my kids! Thanks in advance! You folks are the best! :)

Love and shalom to all! Thanks for stopping by!

A new job!

I have just one more weekend to work at the deli! That will be March 18-19. I just returned from applying for a job at the Badoura Tree Nursery which is run by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. I'm looking forward to no more hair nets and rubber gloves! I can work in old "farm" clothes and enjoy the aroma of soil and evergreens. I'll be working with a friend who used to work in the deli. The job only lasts for a month, but will give my savings a boost and then I'll figure out what to do from there. I plan on this being a yearly event.

The job entails grading the seedlings by size and then packing them for shipment. It's done inside a building on the nursery grounds. We're not doing the stooping and bending of harvesting the trees. It's pretty much standing by a conveyer belt, sometimes with a coat on, because it may be cold/cool in the building. I'm sure it will be a lot like some of the work I've done over the years on our farm. That's why I think I'll like it. It will be a lot of standing, but it's only for a month. It's nice to know you're doing a job that helps people plant trees and make the state more beautiful. :)

Other than that, I'm resting up from a weekend of work. Feels like I might be coming down with something AGAIN. I've been helping with grandbabies a lot, and everyone is taking turns being sick...so. Oh well. I have two weeks before I have to work again, so I'll just rest and relax. :)

I've been rearranging furniture, trying to make a nice spot to paint on larger canvases. Now that it's kind of ready I just have to figure out what to paint. That's always the difficult part! Here is a smattering of my recent ATC stuff, just so there will be some photos in this post. Ha ha!

I had to apologize to the gal who requested this Wonder Woman ATC, because she's kind of cross-eyed! She said she loved it! It reminds her of her Siamese cat, LOL!

I painted my Food Inchies...

...and these Dinos for the Dinosaur Inchies swap.

Life goes on as per usual. I'm loving my "retirement". I got a gym membership, but I think that's going to be kind of a waste with me being sick so much, lol. But I'm hoping the weather will allow more time outside with prospects of walks. March can be a very snowy month in these parts, so we'll see how that goes.

I hope to check out some blogs today. You all stay warm (or cool, depending on where you live) and I'll see you next time!

Shalom!