But I can't stop the rain.

Brett's MRI was a bust. They didn't find anything. Now he has a appointment with an orthopedist Tuesday. If that doesn't work, it's off to a sports medicine doctor. I don't know where else from there. Where's House, when you need him? Of course he would run a bunch of expensive tests, but he might find out quicker than all these doctors.

Brett's already getting tired of seeing doctors. Can't say that I blame him, but we have to find out what's wrong with him. I'm afraid of him calling it quits because of money. He said he would rather limp around in pain for the rest of his life, instead of draining our money to were we couldn't get a house. That kind of shocked me. I didn't know he felt that way. Then I wondered if it was because of me. I started re-evaluating my priorities. Was a farm more important than stopping him from being pain. If it took all my savings I would give it to make him better. We would work something out from there. He is more important to me than a farm or a house.

This whole thing is really starting to wear on him, along with all the other crap that's been happening. I feel sorry for him. I wish there was something I could do to make it all better, but I can't. I feel bad having him walking around looking at houses tonight, but it seems that he's going to still be in pain for awhile so putting it off isn't going to help. I just hope we have a good night, then we can go home and he can get off his leg by laying in the Steiner Recliner and surf the net on Lappy Gilmore, his new laptop. He's having to walk with a cane now. It's like I've got my own fuzzy House hobbling around.

That's all for now. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

The rain does have an end.

I figured I would let everyone know that my life isn't all shit. Other than having my Brett Brett and fuzzy children. There are good things that happen every once and a while. Brett got his new laptop so he is happy about that. I was able to set up wireless on mine so I can move around the house with it, but for some reason my reception goes down some in my bedroom. I currently have my laptop on my stomach while I'm in bed. Hey it works for me.

Brett's car is running better than when he bought it, so he is very pleased. I have a feeling a oil change is due soon for me. I'm afraid of what they will find when I take it in. But for now that is all behind us.

We go to look at some houses tomorrow, hopefully that will go well. I would like for things to continue to look up. Maybe we had enough lows that we have earned some much needed highs.

Well I need to get to sleep. I can't sit up all night typing and watching anime, as much as I want to. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

The Real Folk Blues

Search for that song online. It's Cowboy Bebop's ending theme. You don't have to speak the language to get the feel of the song.

Yep that's how a feel right now. Becks is still not making good, we ended up getting stuck between them and the dealership. Stressed beyond belief, I called the Wookie. He fixes cars, more as a hobby than anything, but I trust him to know more about cars than I do. After a short explanation of what our current problem is. A fuel filter. After a question and answer session, he told us to trust the dealership. They are less likely to screw us over and know the most about the car. So we are back where we started. I doubt we will get any money back from Becks, but I'm tired of being jerked around and our savings drained due to sheer greed and stupidity.

Now comes ass rape number 2. Our insurance went up $30, along with a doubling of the copay amount. How much farther do they want me to bend over? *sigh* I did add Aflac's Cancer coverage. To keep us from another possible screwing, because if we don't have it, one of us would probably get it just out of the world's mere spite of us.

I know I sound bitter, but I'm tried of getting pushed down in the mud and kicked while I'm down. It's stressing Brett out too. We just got him to where he was feeling better and now he's stressing about all of this. He feels bad and keeps apologizing that I have to give up money for his car. He still thinks our savings is my savings. Yes it's in my account, but it's there for emergencies. I just would like for it not to be gone by the time we get a house.

Speaking of houses. We really can't skirt the edge on mortgage payments now that our pay has been fleeced by insurance. So our slim options are even slimmer.

He head honcho is going to be in town Tuesday and she wants me to work on my energy. Even my boss isn't clear on what that means. I sure hope she doesn't fire me because she doesn't like me. That will probably be the the straw that breaks the camel's back. Looks like I'm going to have to turn myself into a totally different person for the day. I hope I can make it through.

Well I'm going to get to cleaning up. She doesn't like the front area messy. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

No pickles.

Well today was interesting. Getting up at 5:30am tends to foreshadow that. I had to take Brett to get an MRI on his knee. Of course it happened to be pouring outside, so thanks to the leaks in my car, it was raining inside and out. We get there early, and that goes ok. I treated him to breakfast at Bob Evans, then we head home. He grabbed some Zs and I just snuggled with the cats till it was time to take his car to the shop.

Ok, so far it doesn't seem to be a interesting day, but just wait.

We dropped his car off at the dealership repair shop, since no one else can tell what's wrong with it. They are overly polite, not being use to that we were a little surprised. We head off home and an hour later we get the diagnostics call.

First of all when we took the car to Becks by home for a tune up, they put the wrong coolant in the car. This isn't some fly by night place, they came recommended by my dad, because he knew them. Well they FAILED! It turns out that the problems with the car are nothing related to the codes pulled from the car. A couple weeks about we spent $100 bucks for them to find out what was wrong with the car. Their diagnostics, that it was a faulty EGR valve. The same one that was replaced back in January. Brett asks the tech 3 times, is there anything else that could be causing this problem. They said no. Pissed off, Brett tracks down a new EGR valve and replace it, and gets a refund for the so called faulty one. The problem keeps happening, getting slightly worse. Brett goes to Auto Zone and gets the codes pulled on the car. It says a number of things, like a bad EGR valve and O2 sensor. I finally had enough and we take the car to the dealership, because they would know that type of car better than anyone.

They said it was exhaust valve leak, a problem with the starter, one of the engine mounts collapsed, and it had the wrong coolant in it. None of these things Becks caught in the inspection. Fail 1!

Becks is known for their mufflers and exhaust, and they didn't catch a exhaust valve leak? Fail 2.

Becks flushed the coolant when they did the tune up, so they put the wrong coolant in the car. Fail 3.

Brett calls Becks and tells them that the dealership said that the coolant was wrong. Asshat at Becks pull the paperwork and says they used the right coolant, (the coolant is supposed to be blue, and it was green) and that sometimes dealerships can put one over on you, and that if you shine a light into the system, it can make the coolant look green. Asshat says they put the right coolant in but if we wanted to bring the car in they would flush it and put coolant in it again. Brett calls the dealership back to get that the wrong coolant was put in the car in writing and double checks to make sure that the coolant was indeed wrong. The dealership tech that it was no problem getting that in writing and they just drained to coolant to flush it, and it was indeed green. Ok, what color blind Fuckmook, tech can drain coolant from a car, see that it is blue, then turn around and put green coolant in? (the color tells the type of coolant) Fail 4.

Tomorrow we pick up Brett's car and get the paper saying that Becks fucked up. Then we are trotting ourselves over to Becks with paper in tow and demanding the money for the diagnostics and the coolant flush back, because they have now cost us $1450 in repairs on the car that should have been caught earlier. Who knows if the fucking EGR valve was bad in the first place, which "needed replaced" when the car was in the shop for the tune up, so these problems could have been there and they didn't notice. We will simply tell them that if they don't refund the money that we will file a complaint with the BBB. We are also going to inform them that we are no longer going to take our vehicles there and neither are my parents. That's 4 cars they will never work on again. Lest see if they hit Fail 5. Fuckmooks.

Getting back to the timeline of the day, my mother decided to come over and bring her friend from up north. I by the way hate this friend of her's and can not stand the woman. They come in and fawn over the Roar, and Shank hides. Shank hates my mom, because she torments him and calls him fat kitty. Shank lets Brett hold him so my mom's friend can see him. He knows he's safe from torment in Brett's arms. They chatter on and on, telling up horrible stories. Then they left. Only to have my mom call me during my "yearly exam", embarrassing the hell out of me.

We are going to see a couple of houses Thursday, and one we were excited about already has an offer on it. Which sucks ass. But I did research on it. What they have is a First Right to Purchase agreement with the owner. Which means they put in a offer, but they won't commit to buying until they sell their house, if they can sell their house. It's not solid. If little ol' me comes along and likes the house, I can put an offer on the house, if the owner likes the offer and accepts it, then the people with the agreement have a set time like 24-48 hours to give a definite yes, we will buy it, or they fore fit their right to it. Then the place is mine. Muahahaha! But seriously there is hope in that situation, or the owner can tell us to fuck off. And the people with the agreement might go ahead and buy the place. But there is hope, and if people don't want to buy a place till their sold, they might not have enough money to own both and be forced to give up their right to it.

Well I've been up since 5:30, so I'm going to bed. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin


Yes I know that the picture has nothing to do with what I wrote in the blog, but they are cute and I wanted to show them off. ;P

Life is a boat.

Sometimes it's calm waters, other times some idiot comes by and rocks it and you end up falling in the drink.

But seriously I love the song 'Life Is A Boat' by Rei Fu, it's a good song. I'm loving my iPod. I listen to it at work, and I listened to it during the Indy Car race yesterday. I also listened to it on the way home. I was still buzzing good after drinking nearly a bottle of wine and Brett's parent's house so when Caramell Dansen came on Sakura I started dancing to it in the car. Eventually Brett told me to stop, because it was distracting. They should consider the Caramell Dansen dance a workout routine, because it wears you out an used a lot of your muscles.

Yesterday I went out with Ma (Brett's Mom) we drove by a house for sale that I wanted to look at. After that she drove me by one other place she saw and then we went to the book store and Target. At Target I got one of those big bag purses. It's white with big pink flowers on it. Ma said that it wasn't too fru fru. When I asked Brett about it, he said there is nothing wrong with girls having fru fru stuff. I do like the purse though. It's big and it doesn't look like I have as much stuff anymore. I could keep my makeup bag in there and still have a ton of room. That would imply I wear makeup on a regular basis, and I don't.

Ok, first we had Mad Cow Disease, then Bird Flu, now we have Swine Flu. For goddess sake, what's next Equine Flu? And you got to wonder how these things just pop up. If they were there all along and can spread so quickly, why haven't we attacked by it long before now? They say if you exhibit flu like symptoms that you should notify your doctor right away. Great, I bet every doctors office is flooded with calls of people thinking they have the Swine Flu.

Then there is the trend in Japan of wearing a surgical mask, to keep germs out, or in. Now Mexico has adopted it. I read an article about how it's almost a fashion statement in Japan, and they aren't sure it helps anything. Maybe it's like a placebo to these people, since they think they are protected, then they don't get sick. I really don't know. I saw a girl walking down the street the other day with a colored surgical mask. I'm all for following Japanese fashion, but I don't think that will catch on, and if you are doing it just for a fashion statement, well you've got problems. But of course growing up, there were some pretty weird fashion statements. *shudders*

Brett goes in for his MRI tomorrow. We've got to find out what's going on with his leg, before he turns into House. We are stopping by J's to get his earrings taken out. They really haven't been out since they were put in. This is going to be fun. After the great earring extraction, we are going to drive by a couple of house options. I'm currently waiting for my mortgage lady to call me back and let me know what Mortgage Insurance is, and why do I need it. Because that thing is making possible Mortgage payments that are livable, turn into OUCH. And I will have a real hard time convincing Brett to go with OUCH payments. And if that doesn't work out, then we fall into the desperate level of things. *sigh* Why is this never easy. If this keeps up we are going to end up living in a van down by they river. If we can't find anything with acreage, then we will have to looking into a cheap enough house where we can still afford to board Katelin. I would really hate to ask a family member for money to help with a down payment on a place, just so we can afford the payments. I'm betting on the van down by the river. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

Sometimes the breeze isn't enough.

Well I finally got all the accessories for my iPod in the mail. I checked them for all the problems that people seem to be having with them, and they look ok. I ordered a new battery for my lappy so I can take it around the house. I'm also getting Brett a laptop of his own. I'm jealous that he will get this neat new laptop, but there is no reason for me to get a new one. Mine works just fine.

I have 1 follower! Yay! It's my friend Tokyo Cowgirl. It's good to know someone reads my blog from time to time.

Today was nice. We opened up the windows and the cats ran from window to window smelling the breeze. They eventually wore themselves out. The picture is of Rory asleep at the window. I enjoyed the windows being open, but the breeze died down and wasn't strong enough to cool the house so we relented and turned on the air.

The people that my aunt hired to mow the lawn showed up unannounced. He lost my number, so I gave it to him again. They scared our resident bunny that lives under the deck. I like the bunny. I get a kick out of seeing him just sit out in the yard like a little statue. He actually calmed down and ate while we watched him today. I keep wanting to get pictures of him, but he's just out of range for a good picture all the time.

I'd say the kittehs are about ready for bed, and they are going to wake me to feed them at 6 so I better scoot off to bed. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin

Grumbly in the tumbly.

So I've went from eating till I was stuffed and snacking when I was a little hungry, to eating small, proper portions and maybe eating a apple between meals. Lets just say my stomach is a little upset with me. It doesn't think yogurt is enough for breakfast and green tea isn't a good subsitute for coffee and coke. So 3 hours before lunch it starts talking to me and I wish lunch time would hurry up and arrive. Then when it does I wolf down my plain chicken patty sandwich and 15 pringles. My stomach is still asking where the rest of the food is. Yep it's going to take awhile for my stomach to adjust. I'm most likly going to have to go out and get a salad after we get to J's tonight. I don't think I can last until after their JITBR recording.

I'm loving my new iPod. Brett is jelous of it. I forgot I loaded Caramell Dansen on it, so when it came up on the rotation I started laughing, and wanted to get up and dance to it. I would get a lot of weird looks if I did that at work. But I have Sakura hooked up to a pair of computer speakers so I can move around while I work. Also it's more distracting having music directly in one ear while you are trying to talk to someone.

So we are going to get Brett a Laptop of his own, so I don't have to share mine anymore. I know, I should be better at sharing, but it still gets a bit annoying. So we are going to use tax return money to get him his own laptop and he can surf the net in the Stiner Recliner. I think that will make him a very happy Brett Brett. I'm going to get a new battery for my laptop, so it can actually be disconected from the power plug. The old battery is toast, so my portible computer is pretty staionary. I'm not surprised I've had the thing since 2002.

Staying up till midnight messing with iTunes, is starting to catch up with me. A nice nap sounds really good. I wonder if anyone would notice if I crawled under my desk and went to sleep. I would have to take the phone there with me, but I could deal with that. Need to find things to keep me awake, that doesn't involve poking myself in the rear with a strait pen every 5 minutes. Laters! Savvy?

-Aislin