Mild frustration... again...

Okay, so I realize that it's been the holidays and things got busy. I can accept that. But when I talked to Bert yesterday, I thought we were golden. Yesterday was the mix up in inspector requisitions. Today she called a number of times... first she hadn't written down when our house was built, which we have discussed a number of times. Then she called back to verify where Lanse works, and I asked her if the reference letters had gone out, since I hadn't heard about it yet. So she goes digging, and the address we'd given her in December while she was standing in our living room (done then to save time, y'know) was still tucked into the file and never made it to the secretary who had the form. Then she called me back again because apparently they sent the employment reference form to work and never got it back. There was something else as well that she called back about, and I can't remember.

So on the frustrated side, things haven't been getting done when I thought they were.

On the positive side though, I happen to know that Bert's been sitting in the office all afternoon with our file open, and that's a good thing.

After losing most of the day to a migraine headache, I have managed to scan in and email our vet records to her, as well as print out the floor plan fire escape routes that we need to have posted in prominent places. We have to run out and get some frames for them. I printed two black and white for the living room and kitchen, and one colorful with cute clip art for the kid's room. I think next I'll print up an emergency numbers list to post with it.

I also need to make that shopping list so that when we go we can get everything at once. It'll be a big bill. Sigh.

Inspections and vets

I had sent email to Bert two weeks ago and in the craziness of the holidays it got buried. I thought there was a chance that she'd gone off to have surgery, so I emailed her secretary and got a call back from Bert.

The health inspection request never got sent, and the fire inspection request was sent to Charleston County instead of Dorchester County. So she's sending both again, and she will copy me on the request via email so that I know exactly when she requests it.

We're pretty much ready for the inspections, though we have to go buy a large bin to store paint in, get around to locking up the tools in the garage, and I keep finding matchbooks in various drawers, so I need to go around with a box and systematically search every drawer and closet and stuff for things like matches and scissors. The obvious stuff has been taken care of, but since I have candles all over the house I tended to leave means of fire nearby. I also need to buy another bin to put my quilting supplies in, since there's currently rotary cutters on my craft shelf and blades for it in my (low) drawer. Hopefully what we have left will take about two hours (not counting the shopping for bins), plus taking the fire extinguisher to the fire station and seeing if they'll recharge it for us.

Other than that, we only had the vet records left to take care of, and that appointment's in an hour. Oh, we also have to dump our dead garden pots. We were also going to dismantle the playset, but Bert says so long as we have a plan and she can verify later that it was done, we don't have to have that done when the inspector arrives.

I registered us for the next two training classes, the first on ADD/ADHD/ODD, and the second on Lying. Should be interesting.

Weekend Review

Well, the state's not so silly after all. We received the vet records yesterday, and wouldn'tcha know that all of the cat's shots except for two of Kira's are overdue... by almost a year. My reasoning is this: our last visit was in March of 07. We moved in July 07. When we were at the vet's in March, we asked if we needed them done and the vet said, "Oh, they're 3 year shots, it's not needed right now." Apparently 'not right now' meant 'come back in November', but no one made that clear. Now it's November a year later. Oops.

Note to people in transition: Don't lose your copies of the vet records.

So we'll be vaccinating the cats after the holiday. Gotta find a vet first though.

Had lunch with my cousin on Friday. She loaned us a baby gate and some outlet covers, and gave us an extra pack of beach toys they had and a kid's hymn cassette. Of course, we have no cassette player, but I'm thinking we'll try to find someone who has a machine that can burn the CD... or, now that we own the cassette, maybe we can legally download in mp3 format.

Play structure & pets

Flossy asked why we'd have to dismantle the play structure. There's a picture of it; on the left is where the slide attaches and in the middle we have two swings, a chin up bar, and a set of rings. All those parts are in the shed; this picture was taken when we were preparing for 'Never-Became-a-Hurricane Hanna'.

If you look closely, you will notice that the left corner where the slide attaches is broken, and there are a number of slats missing in the upper level. The upper level is a square shape; and yet, it is braced by a center beam. So when you stand on the end it rocks very unsteadily. The ladder stairs are spaced quite far apart, (it's hard for me to climb up,) and up-close real life observation (not shown in the photo) you can see where some of the wood is splitting. Most of the concerning bit is up on the top level, so our choices right now are to either repair the whole thing, remove the upper level and shorten the swing section (it also takes up a lot of the yard, so I'd like to make it a bit smaller) and repair the slide and ladder, or just tear it all down. We honestly can't decide, so we want to get our social worker's opinion on whether not deciding right now is going to harm the inspection results.


Additional update information: after half-heartedly tearing the house apart looking for the vet records, new copies are now in the mail. For whatever crazy reason, the state wants proof that our pets won't spread rabies if they attack the children. Silly state. :)

State, if you're reading, that there was sarcasm. As far as logic tells me, our cats are up to date on vaccinations and never ever bite, unless... ya know... the toy you're taunting them with is small enough they get fingers by mistake.