Things have picked up

So, yesterday, I had the crappy water pressure and then later, we didn't have cable or internet or water (at all!). That was exciting. I saw the last 7 minutes of American Idol - or make that the last minute of AI and the other 6 of commercials.

When I finished writing yesterday, I realized I didn't feel bad from the wine... I felt bad because I hadn't taken my crazy pill at all (ativan). Once that took over, my head quit pulsing and I felt much more comfortable.

"Why are you on the crazy pill, Evil Twin's Wife?", you may wonder. "You're just a housewife, so you can't have that much stress."

I don't even know where to begin on this one. In September of 2004, my dad died fairly unexpectedly. 14 months later, my mom also passed away - she had been in frail health for quite some time, then fell and broke her pelvis. While she was in the hospital being treated for that, she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and given 6 months to a year. She made it about 6 weeks after the diagnosis. I was 6 months pregnant with Sissy (or Thing 2) and it was a very high risk pregnancy.

My younger brother lives about 2 1/2 hours away and even though we are both in their wills, he declined to serve so that I could take care of matters myself - which was fine with me because he's unpredictable and a liar to boot. I just wanted some sort of help or support as he could manage it.

They left several accounts with cash on hand, which I had access to. He called and wanted $11, 000 last February, which I didn't think was a good idea. I said, "What if something really seriously goes wrong?" He said, "I'll give you money if you need it." So, I gave in... it was his money, after all. I took my $11K too, so I could pay Buddy's private school tuition, and get some things done around the house, plus we bought Buddy a new dresser and a few other household things. Besides, I didn't want to be stuck holding the bag, paying for things out of my money.

Now granted, that wasn't the only money I had access to. There was a bunch more. But, that part was spent. Turns out, the house had serious foundation problems. End of story is I ended up putting $26K into the house and was $1200 short of being able to pay it. I had to get a home equity loan on MY house to cover expenses. All I asked was that he send in payments on the loan to help me out with that until the house sold. I received a check for $20 (I had only asked for $10 per month). Guess what? It bounced! And my bank charged us an extra $10 on top of that.

The Evil Twin is obviously the only person who earns money in this household... so this is not even his problem, but generously, he has helped me along the way. Number one, he loves me and number two, he knows my parents' loved him and were always generous to him/us when they were alive.

I have done every piece of paperwork, every bill that needs to be paid, every contractor hired to fix things... I have coordinated all that and more - all while taking care of a new baby and a school aged child, plus taking care of my own home and family (paying bills, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, meal prep, scheduling... I could go on). It's just been incredibly stressful.

I am not whining here. This is my lot in life and thank goodness, I'm here to do it. It'll be done correctly, I can sleep at night knowing that much is true. Anyway, this wasn't even what this was going to be about, but it kind of deteriorated along the way. Sorry 'bout that! But, I do feel better! :-)