moving, kids, cars and stress
Update.
Baby got a job. Yaaaaaay!! She is psyched, sort of. LOL.
Baby's truck still needs a fuel pump, which is 300. Not having the 300, we decided to put Betty, the old and trusty Grand Am back on the road. Needed a new radiator. $40. Easy cheesy.
Got radiator via TLPFH ($140), he put it in. It was still overheating. Wrong radiator. When changing radiator, noticed the rack and pinion was all rusted to hell. Replaced R & P ($85). When changing the R&P, noticed the fuel lines leaking. Battery went dead ($79). New fuel lines ($60). Then noticed gas tank was rusted. New gas tank ($80). Put in new gas tank. Bought plugs and oil and filter ($45). Put in new plugs, oil, filter. Still running rough. Electrical system whacked out. Plug boots melted. New plug boots ($35). Had to pay TLPFH to put all this stuff in ($300).
Got it all changed out, blowing white wet smoke out tailpipe. Head warped or cracked. Bought two quarts of Sodium Silicate (Liquid Glass), poured it in. Didn't work.
Betty is now dead. Irrevocably. Irretrievably. Dead. Not mostly dead, but actually REALLY dead.
Betty will be scrapped. Called Summit Racing, ordered fuel pump for Baby's truck. Will be here tomorrow. Job starts today. Job is 2 hours drive from our house (45mins from apt in Pittsburgh).
Traded scrap value of Betty to TLPFH ($300) to install new fuel pump in Baby's truck when it gets here.
Baby borrowed PT cruiser last night to drive into Pittsburgh to get clothes. After she got to apt and got clothes, PT wouldn't start. Nursey said, sorry about your luck, I just worked a 16 and have to be up at 5 to go back to work (this was at midnight). Back into apt she went, leaving Baby and friend out there with a car that wouldn't start.
Neighbor came out and helped. At 1:47 a.m. They were back on road.
DH has to take Baby into town this morning to friends house who also got hired with her, so she can ride into work with her for orientation. She is to be a 'greeter' at Bahama Breeze, upscale restaurant in suburb of Pittsburgh.
Taking battery out of Betty to put in PT. Battery is new.
Kids are all doing very well. ¾ Pint has settled down and is now running out door to get on bus with cousins. Fell down the stairs today on way out, didn't melt down. I came out with box of band-aids and put two on her little knee, off she went to end of driveway. No tears.
½ Pint was hiding under Pappy's big truck yesterday playing hide and seek. Didn't realize there was several tons of steel over her head (bit truck, BIG tires – 37” tires, TALL TRUCK, appropriate for hiding under for a five year old). Stood up, banged head. Goose egg. Little scrape. She shrugged it off.
Pint was playing outside. ¾ Pint unwittingly (she says......) kicked a garden slug onto Pint. I heard the 'OMG there is a BUG on me' scream. Pint came running into house at full voice..traumatized to the max. Put her in shower, trying not to laugh.
½ Pint and ¾ were sitting on loveseat, looking at each other, going like..”it's JUST a slug, it's a snail with no shell....”
LOL.
House is dirty. Today is cleaning, tomorrow starts packing. Oh. Sorry. Forgot.
We are leaving country. Cop got transferred to Travis AFB in California. It is a soft market for real estate. The house has an 82k mortgage on it. It is a smaller two bedroom, with a large two room basement, partially finished.
So, instead of buying this place when the lease is up in june, we are moving and buying Nursey/Cop's old house. Nursey doesn't want it, Cop can't keep it, he is leaving May 26 for California.
I have a month to pack, then move, then a month left on the lease to clean and get this house ready to turn back over.
I have two screens to fix which the cats have shredded, and one bedroom carpet to replace (champagne, ½ Pint's bedroom, she spilled hot pink nail polish on it).
Cop is tearing up the carpet in that house (champagne...) because he did in the bedroom and discovered hardwood floors under the carpet. After he is gone (may 26th) I am going to grab the belt sander and go over and sand bedroom, living room, dining room floors and urethane the heck out of them (I have done this before and know what I am doing) then, after a week when the floors have cured completely, we will move in the furniture.
In the interim, I am going to start packing every day, putting everything in boxes, taking 3 or 4 boxes out every trip to town. Garage is cleaned out at new house, I will be putting the boxes in the garage till Cop's furniture gets packed by U.S. Air Force.
Then, THEORETICALLY, (don't you love Theory???), buy then, everything that isn't totally essential and isn't heavy furniture, should already be over at the new house.
I can take the kids over to the new house, and the crew (son, DIL/niece), Baby's ex boyfriend and a few of his friends, and a uhaul...will get the furniture.
(Baby just went out to start the PT, it did not start.) Calling TLPFH. Sigh.
Have a good week all. I have karate today after school till 8 pm, and one of my friends 8th grade daughter is flunking 8th grade and I offered to pick her up after school and take her to karate with me and the three girls..while I am working, and tutor her. Hope I make it.
posted by: bratmom (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:01 am)
Yay for the job and for the kidlets being ok! Boo to the PT cruiser! *hugs* woman
posted by: squirrelzone (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:11 am)
Sheesh woman, I sometimes wish I had your energy. And about Betty, throwing good money after bad. I hope in her after life she becomes a school bus where more children can appreciate and love her.
posted by: PastorDave (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:27 am)
What a busy life. And moving! Well, congrats and I hope it goes well.
Maintaining old cars can drive you crazy, and slowly but surely drain every penny. Seemingly I've done it all my life. One of my best moves, ever, was about three years ago when I bought a new car. On credit, with monthly payments for 5 years, of course. We are now approaching 50,000 miles with absolutely no problems. Sure beats the heck out of worrying about what the next weekly breakdown will be.
posted by: fractalmom (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:49 am)
Reply to: bratmom
i know. LOL. the kidlets being okay just kind of makes all the insanity worth it. **smiling** when it all comes down the pike, they are all that is important!!
posted by: fractalmom (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:52 am)
Reply to: squirrelzone
thanks SZ. I'm gonna miss old Betty though. Gak!! I loved that car, she was so reliable, and fun to drive. I will be on the lookout for another good old reliable beater. Thats the good thing about TLPFH (remember, tattooed love puppy from hell = mechanic), he gets some REALLY good deals, like, you know, my friend is going to prison tomorrow and needs money..and he has a car that is worth 2k but he will settle for $200 tonight because he wants one last good hit, or drunk or whatever LOL. I try to keep a couple hundred in the safe for those opportunities. And then, there is NO payment...I really like that, and if something happens to the car, no biggie. Just wait for the next good deal. gotta love them beaters.
posted by: inkspector (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:55 am)
Sounds like the starter is shot on the PT Cruiser if it ran on the new battery.
Good luck with the move. That is how we did it also, packed several boxes a day over a period of time. It was much easier that way.
posted by: fractalmom (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (7:56 am)
Reply to: PastorDave
thanks PD. The house is really nice, it was overpriced when they bought it, but had been gutted and the interior all totally updated and redone. Very nice home. HUGE fenced yard, two car garage (Dave is seeing MANCAVE written all over it LOL), nice neighborhood. Girls will have to share attic bedroom though, and it is not large however, the basement has room for a playroom. I think, all in all, it will be a good thing. Also, it is right down the street from Son/DIL and I miss Son alot. He will be a regular visitor to our home again **smile** instead of a 4 or 5 times a year visitor. I am keeping the girls in the same school though, open enrollment, and will have to drive them every day and pick them up. it's 12.3 miles each way, so 25 mile roundtrip twice a day will be 1/4 tank of gas each day. Will run me about 50 a week, but the school is really good for them, and they LOVE it there. The schools at the new house aren't so hot :/, and the school they are in is K-12...
posted by: LadyG (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (8:19 am)
fractualmom, I am tired just readub about your day, God Bless you and continue to give you strength.
posted by: joliefille (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (8:46 am)
Dang! You are superwoman!
Way to go with the belt sander. I love hardwood floors.
I'm sure at your new house you won't miss the plague of crickets!
:)
posted by: squirrelzone (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (1:32 pm)
Reply to: fractalmom
I've owned my fair share of "beaters" in my life that have pulled me out of a cinch or two. And the no payment is the best part of owning a beater too.
posted by: auntconi (reply)
post date: 05.05.08 (9:40 pm)
Well, you sure have a good game plan worked out.
Sorry the car situation is such a nuisance ~ oh well, that's what 'cars do best' unfortunately. I don't envy you all the work involved, but if you have enough people to help, it should go pretty good w/o too many 'bumps' in the road.
Glad the girls are doing better ~ shhhh, I’ll whisper ~ don't want to upset the good vibes there! :)
I wish you well in this venture and the strength to get it all done. It sounds like everyone is quite excited. Did I hear that hubs is eyeing the ‘man cave possibility’ ???
Enjoy and if we don’t see you, we will know what you are doing. But don’t stay away too long; we need our dose of ‘fractal mom’s life’ ~ seriously! ((hugs))
posted by: surrogate (reply)
post date: 05.06.08 (5:24 pm)
Zowie. Cars. Oy.
I'm sure as hell not letting my old Jeep read this post. I don't want it getting any ideas.
posted by: fractalmom (reply)
post date: 05.06.08 (5:43 pm)
Reply to: surrogate
no way!!! do NOT let the jeep read this. NO !!
posted by: lorischuster (reply)
post date: 05.12.08 (5:34 am)
My head is spinning and I'm feeling a bit guilty about sitting here alone drinking my coffee. Sometimes when we look back we wonder how we got through certain things--I think that this will be one of those times for you! You truly are super woman. good luck with everything! PS: A good way to pack plates is to buy different sizes of styrofoam plates to put in between. (Did I sound like Martha???) I've moved four times in three years...trust me I've learned some shortcuts.
