1-21-13

7:35am   

Oh yeah I see this being a good week.  (sarcastic)

Really cold weather with a possible snow storm later on.

Hubby is on call this week with the possibility

for water line freeze ups because of the cold

and because residents pay no attention to signs

upon entering the property saying to let your faucets drip

to keep from freezing your water lines and to not turn off

your heat if you are leaving for awhile.

Then there's hot water heaters that could go out

There are many college students there that go home

and visit parents or people that go back to countries

for a bit and decide to save money by turning

off these utilities in the brutal winter months.

Half the property has water tanks outside

in a shed for each building.  Not the brightest idea

the builders had!  Furnaces will have minds of their own

and will quit working.

Owners of the property, aka investors,

invest in cheaper supplies.  With the money they make

I think they should invest wisely in more quality parts

so that their employees don't have to constantly replace them.

But instead they invest tons of money into 

new windows and painting the entire property

because looks are everything to them.

Who buys a property that has no employees to run it

then expects to borrow from other properties

that can't function properly without their own.

Well this company obviously did

about a mile or two from the property where hubby works.

They did find people to run it then those people quit.

Now it's back to borrowing again.

And then expecting our property to be up and running

normally and to have things done on time, yeah right.

They have turn over expectations that seem impossible.

Sure there's your typical move out that could take a couple

days to punch out.  But to get a vacant apartment

that is completely wiped out that needs a major rehab

and still expect that to be done in a couple days

is ridiculous!  Two of those happened last week and 

one this week.

They both needed total kitchen rehabs from

new floors, all cupboards, counters and appliances

and everything in between.

Check this out for this week coming up

with extreme cold temperatures.

You cannot function properly and be expected

to get things done in a timely manner

when you are short handed half of your staff.

That's the case this week with my hubby on call

who is stressing so bad before the work week even starts.

The property manager, maintenance supervisor,

and a very knowledgeable maintenance worker

was all flown to North Carolina to attend 

a convention of some sort that corporate is having

for fun and for one of the guys at our property

being the maintenance guy of the year.

You take the second supervisor in charge and put

him at the newest property where all new hires

have quit and run for the hills.

Ok that leaves my hubby who's on call for all emergencies.

If something major happens there is no one in charge

to turn to.  For example fires, floods.

Some things need permission to do like calling

contractors to do the really big jobs that they can't handle.

There's is

another pretty good maintenance guy to do punch outs,

a maintenance guy that is half assed and by that I mean

he isn't too knowledgeable with major things

or minor things at that.  I mean come on now

you don't put screws through the tops of faucets

to attach them to the sink decks!

And lastly a maintenance guy they just hired

that is slower than molasses.

For example it took him a couple days just

to replace all the outlets in one apartment!

The painters painted them which they were 

not supposed to do and they wanted all new ones installed.

He has no motivation.

Yeah I stress right along side of my hubby.

I'm the outsider looking in but I have

my xray binoculars on to see that there

are too many chiefs and not enough

Indians running this place.

Yeah it's more money and overtime on the paycheck

just to make ends meet.  He should be making more

money like the rest of them.

They docked him $2 a hour years ago

ever since a new company came in and bought the place.

And with the new company came higher insurance.

So docked $2 an hour and having to pay

over $600 for insurance each month.

Oh yeah I think that's fair, NOT!

Yeah I'm stressed and are in bitch mode

trying to make ends meet at the moment

is very hard work!

Because getting our taxes delayed it's

putting a damper on many things.

I was hoping to have them back about a month earlier

than what they are telling us.

So that is putting us behind with the things I had

planned out.  I don't mean artificial things

I mean things like my medicine.

I was having some bad times with my Crohn's then

this past week I started feeling better

and I could see light at the end of the tunnel

for a little while.

I had gotten to the point of not having to

take acetaminophin as much for the pain. 

I'm thinking woo hoo, finally!

Even if it's for a little while, some relief.

Then I started doing the math.

I had hoped to have our refund money

sooner than later.  I had it all figured out

that my medicine would run out after we got

our tax refund and I would have money to refill them.  

Well because of the delay for filing taxes now

I don't think I'll have enough medicine to get by.

My one medicine costs $200!  

I have about 20 days left.  This is medicine

I have to take the rest of my life to keep Crohn's and

my bowels on the right track.

Ok, to put it not so nicely,

 it keeps me from having constant everyday

diarrhea, many trips daily to the bathroom

and from having to go to the ER with

dehydration and vitamin deficiencies and flare

ups that I could rank up there with having a baby!

I thought last night I would try taking just one

pill instead of two to try and stretch out my medicine.

One would be better than none right?

Wrong!

I am so feeling the affects of not taking that

second pill.  I have been to the bathroom

3-4 times already this morning and I've only been 

awake 2 1/2 hours today.

My bathroom trips are not regular.

Somewhere in between that I noticed the change

that fast from not taking that darn second pill.

I don't know what to do.

I don't want to ask to borrow money again

because I already owe money.

So I sit here in a moment of silence

praying that H&R Blocks calls very soon

to say it's a go on getting our taxes done

to get our refund sooner. 

I'm gonna go take that second pill now

and keep taking two pills each day and pray

that everything turns out alright.

9:15am

Well the snow is picking up it's pace and starting

to cover the roads.  

11:15am

Got 2 meals going in crock pots.

1st is a 3.34 pound sirloin pork roast

found at Save-A-Lot marked down to $4.65.

I added a can of sauerkraut (.59 cents) into the bottom of

the crock with brown sugar (.05 cents).  Topped

with pork roast sprinkled with pork seasoning (.10 cents).

Served with potatoes ($1.00)

TOTAL COST TO MAKE $5.39

This should make a couple meals and a couple lunches.

So $2.69 a meal. 

10 servings @ .53 cents a serving.

2nd is almost 1.5 pounds of pork ribs ($3.25)

in the crock with a half bottle of honey bbq sauce (.30 cents).

Once done I'll shred the pork in the bbq sauce

and serve over mashed potatoes ($1.00). 

Any leftovers will be used in quesadillas ($1.29)

cheese (.50 cents) served with 4 cheese rice-a-roni (.49 cents)

TOTAL COST TO MAKE $6.33

Will try to get 2 meals and 2 lunches from this.

so $3.16 per meal.

10 servings @ .31 cents a serving.

Temps are supposed to start dropping into the 

teens this afternoon with overnight lows in the

single digits with wind chills dropping below zero!

I went around and hung some thick towels on our winows

over top the blinds with some clothespins to help

insulate the place more.

I turned down the heat to 70 degrees as usual

this morning and have the humidifier running.

The thermostat says it's 70 in here.

Here in a few I might start baking some homemade

granola bars to help put some more heat in here.

Looks crappy but hoping to save a little on the heat bill.
It's not like I expect company to come over
anytime soon.

12:20pm

I got a sheet of homemade granola in the oven baking.

I used 2 cups rice cereal, 

6 packets instant flavored oatmeal packets

(1 cinnamon, 2 banana bread, 2 apple cinnamon),

1 cup dried apples and bananas mixed,

1 cup nut trail mix with dates, 

2 eggs, 
1 tsp. vanilla

3 tbsp. butter, 

1/3 cup brown sugar, 

2-3 tbsp nutella, 

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Spread out on jelly roll sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

A couple minutes before being done remove

from oven and sprinkle about 1/2 cup chocolate chips

on top of granola.  Return to oven to finish baking.

Once done take out of oven and using the back

side of a spoon evenly spread the melted

chocolate over top all the granola.

I then set the pan on the back stoop to cool

and hope that no stray cats get a hankering

for some granola!

1:00pm

Going to take a break then finish up the rest

of the laundry left in the dryer which is mostly towels.  

Then get the granola bars cut and wrapped up

for some breakfast treats this week.

After that if I feel energetic I might color my hair. 


1:30pm


WOWZER.
There is a 30 car accident on 270
about 4 miles from our home.
Part of 270 is shut down.
It doesn't say what cause it all.
Traffic is gonna be messed up for awhile
with everyone looking for alternate routes.
Yup, it's Monday!

I am now reading that witnesses to the accident
say that snow caused white out conditions
on the roadway.

There was also a 50 car crash on I-75 near Middletown, OH

and a 22 car crash in Colerain TWP, OH
on I-275.

BRRRR!
It is 22 degrees outside with a wind chill of 8 degrees.
The air is feeling a bit nippy in here because of it.
My hands are feeling a little cold.
Still have yet to turn the heat back up though.
Making sure kids have clothes and sock on.
Sometimes they like to run around without
shirts or half naked it seems and then wonders
why they are cold.


2:40pm


I sent a prayer to God earlier about needing my medicine.
He was very quick to reply!
Got notice from hubby earlier that there is a 
large bonus on his next paycheck on Feb. 1st!!!! 
7 days before my medicine runs out, whew!
That'll give me time to submit it to the 
mail order pharmacy and get it in time before it runs out.
Thank you God!


3:05pm


Ok I upped the heat back to 73.
I couldn't take the chill any longer.
It's 21 and feels like 5 degrees out right now.
Got the granola bars cut up and bagged.
I got 20 bars from the pan.
The kids and myself have had a few.
Their response to them,
"those are actually good"
Like I try to make bad stuff?!

5:00pm


And we have yet another chain reaction crash!
Richfield county Ohio on I-71
there is a 24 vehicle crash! 

Does this not seem odd today with all these
many multi vehicle crashes?

I'm pretty sure I know what is causing it
as hubby said it just happened to him on the way home,
there is blinding snow coming down at times.
Please drive carefully
and slow down and get off the cell phones
unless it is an emergency!


6:00pm


If you can have pigs in a blanket then
I'll call this pig in a nest, lol.
Suuooooeeee, Sup Sup Supper's ready. 

Then off to the store to get me some pop.
I swear my mind is going to be this forgetful.

I wonder how cold it has to be for them
to close schools.  They are talking -15 or
more for wind chills tomorrow morning.


11:15pm


It's 11 degrees out and feels like -5 degrees.
Heading to bed and covering my head.  Brrr!