The neighbor from hell approached Jules as she pulled her "emancipated" car into the driveway. The woman informed her that she knew she was looking for a renter, but since that is against the zoning rules, she would be reporting her to the town zoning board and she should be prepared to defend herself. Jules was stunned. This woman had just been causing a problem for her the previous day, too.
On Friday, Jules was on her bike headed to the school to pick up the boy she watches after school from his chess club. It is a 10 minute ride each way. She made eye contact with her neighbor, married to the police lieutenant, and Jules waved goodbye to her 10 year old son, knowing the 12 year old was home to watch him.
While on her way, she receives an animated call from Mr. Evil who wants to know where she is and where his daughter is. She tells him they are both at home while she goes to school. He threatens to call child protective services - even though she is not breaking any law whatsoever. Mrs. Busybody is in cahoots with Mr. Evil. Reason: Mrs. Busybody had told Jules that she wants her sister to buy Jules home, and tells her she shouldn't even try to keep it. Vile human beings.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Kev Update
Kev's back is messed up. The toilet is fixed but at quite a sacrifice - and this weekend we had to help Anna move out of her apartment after her graduation in Virginia. He took loads of pain medicine and did what he could, but he was only a fraction of his usual "mover" self.
Today I put him on a train for North Carolina. When he woke up he could hardly get out of bed. He took more medicine figuring he could rest on the the train.
Today I put him on a train for North Carolina. When he woke up he could hardly get out of bed. He took more medicine figuring he could rest on the the train.
The Napkin
Jules was so broke last week she ran out of toilet paper.
I had just returned from the grocery store bringing her milk and bread and toilet paper. My dear husband with the bad back was still hammering away (5 hours) in the bathroom replacing the flooring, the commode, etc. He was finishing up so I stayed to chat, and she says: “Last night, we were out of toilet paper. I was searching around the house, and ran across this box with small white napkins: my wedding napkins that have our name and date. I figured: Why not?”
She says she handed them into her son. Suddenly he calls out: Mom, were you married on June 4, 1989? She said she started to laugh, and then telling me, she starts to laugh, and laugh, and we are both laughing, and wiping out eyes, and then we slow down a bit, and then we start up again and can’t stop laughing, the irony is so perfect. It is a precious memory.
And the bathroom is fixed, so she can rent out a room, using the deposit to pay the garage, to get her car out of hock, and get a job, and pay bills - and buy toilet paper.
I had just returned from the grocery store bringing her milk and bread and toilet paper. My dear husband with the bad back was still hammering away (5 hours) in the bathroom replacing the flooring, the commode, etc. He was finishing up so I stayed to chat, and she says: “Last night, we were out of toilet paper. I was searching around the house, and ran across this box with small white napkins: my wedding napkins that have our name and date. I figured: Why not?”
She says she handed them into her son. Suddenly he calls out: Mom, were you married on June 4, 1989? She said she started to laugh, and then telling me, she starts to laugh, and laugh, and we are both laughing, and wiping out eyes, and then we slow down a bit, and then we start up again and can’t stop laughing, the irony is so perfect. It is a precious memory.
And the bathroom is fixed, so she can rent out a room, using the deposit to pay the garage, to get her car out of hock, and get a job, and pay bills - and buy toilet paper.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Plumbing problems: 1 solved, 1 to go
A big piece of the puzzle is getting the plumbing fixed in the bathroom so Julia can rent out the 2nd bedroom. The shower pipe had broken leaking water down into the family room ceiling. Kev was able to pull apart the plumbing and file and sodder, and reattach and make it essentially leak proof.
The toilet is more complicated because it is sinking into the floor due to dry rot. Kev pulled out the toilet, and thinks they can remedy the situation with new floorboarding. It's a big job worth hundreds of dollars that she doesn't have, but the timing is important to get it done. Kev worked tonday for several hours, and will work again tomorrow on the project. She is so grateful.
Contact me through friendlysurvival@gmail.com.
The toilet is more complicated because it is sinking into the floor due to dry rot. Kev pulled out the toilet, and thinks they can remedy the situation with new floorboarding. It's a big job worth hundreds of dollars that she doesn't have, but the timing is important to get it done. Kev worked tonday for several hours, and will work again tomorrow on the project. She is so grateful.
Contact me through friendlysurvival@gmail.com.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Giving a leg up to "Julia"
I'm looking for resources to help my friend:
She's losing her house due to a chronically ill son, 9. Daughter, 12, just fractured her eye socket rollerskating, and car broke down on the way to the ER. Now it's fixed - $600 later - but she's broke because she can't get to her cleaning jobs without a car. She has several renters interested in renting a room, but with a broken shower, she stuck until she can get the car out of the shop.
(see the detailed version of this saga, below)
If you would like to know how you can help...send me an email by clicking on the white envelope below.
I welcome any and all suggestions.
I love the internet because I believe that it is through these connections with others that we can build a better world - the pieces of the puzzle are out there. The voluntary collective can be a supremely powerful and creative organization.
My friend "Julia" is losing her home. Her son has a chronic illness and she has lost 3 jobs taking time to care for him. She wants to get a renter, but her plumbing is broken, and she doesn’t have the money to fix it. (We’ve offered to help, but it is a much more complex job than is wise for the amateur to attempt.) Can it get worse? YES. Last Friday her daughter was injured while roller skating at the local rink. The rink organized a game like musical chairs on roller skates except everyone rushes for orange safety cones. Bending over to reach for the cone she bumped heads with another friend and not only split open her forehead, but fractured 2 out of 3 of her occipital bones surrounding her eye.
Can it get worse? - Yes! While driving to the ER, her car shut off with no power, and she had to pull over. So she is sitting in her car with her bleeding daughter, and completely overwhelmed. Can it get worse? - Yes! Her AAA card expired April first. Friends from the rink picked them up and drove them to the hospital. And worse? - yes! She had the car towed to our home so my husband could look at it because she still owes money to her mechanic from the last breakdown. My husband called our mechanic who recently moved to Missouri, and he talked him through various options. None worked. We towed the car to another place where the mechanic who told her: It’s a $600-$2000 problem.
“Worser?” Yep. The ex-husband is giving her hell about her daughter’s care, which doctor, why does she need a specialist…on and on. She called me in tears saying the trauma of dealing with her abusive ex-husband is just too much. Anyway, it is requiring a team effort to give her the support she needs, all of us are busy, and I think that if more local people understood her predicament, we could make even more progress. I see the internet as a vehicle for that - but how is the question.
She's losing her house due to a chronically ill son, 9. Daughter, 12, just fractured her eye socket rollerskating, and car broke down on the way to the ER. Now it's fixed - $600 later - but she's broke because she can't get to her cleaning jobs without a car. She has several renters interested in renting a room, but with a broken shower, she stuck until she can get the car out of the shop.
(see the detailed version of this saga, below)
If you would like to know how you can help...send me an email by clicking on the white envelope below.
I welcome any and all suggestions.
I love the internet because I believe that it is through these connections with others that we can build a better world - the pieces of the puzzle are out there. The voluntary collective can be a supremely powerful and creative organization.
My friend "Julia" is losing her home. Her son has a chronic illness and she has lost 3 jobs taking time to care for him. She wants to get a renter, but her plumbing is broken, and she doesn’t have the money to fix it. (We’ve offered to help, but it is a much more complex job than is wise for the amateur to attempt.) Can it get worse? YES. Last Friday her daughter was injured while roller skating at the local rink. The rink organized a game like musical chairs on roller skates except everyone rushes for orange safety cones. Bending over to reach for the cone she bumped heads with another friend and not only split open her forehead, but fractured 2 out of 3 of her occipital bones surrounding her eye.
Can it get worse? - Yes! While driving to the ER, her car shut off with no power, and she had to pull over. So she is sitting in her car with her bleeding daughter, and completely overwhelmed. Can it get worse? - Yes! Her AAA card expired April first. Friends from the rink picked them up and drove them to the hospital. And worse? - yes! She had the car towed to our home so my husband could look at it because she still owes money to her mechanic from the last breakdown. My husband called our mechanic who recently moved to Missouri, and he talked him through various options. None worked. We towed the car to another place where the mechanic who told her: It’s a $600-$2000 problem.
“Worser?” Yep. The ex-husband is giving her hell about her daughter’s care, which doctor, why does she need a specialist…on and on. She called me in tears saying the trauma of dealing with her abusive ex-husband is just too much. Anyway, it is requiring a team effort to give her the support she needs, all of us are busy, and I think that if more local people understood her predicament, we could make even more progress. I see the internet as a vehicle for that - but how is the question.
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