Happy Sunday morning. My wife and son are both nursing colds and my wife even has a slight fever. She is swearing that it is allergies but I told her you don't get a fever from allergies. I've been drinking Yerba Mate and one of the benefits is supposed to be helping with allergies, which is usually suffer from. So far, so good. Oh, and I'm drinking the unsmoked version for anyone worried about carcinogenic properties.

I hired a guy to help me out with landscaping this week. I have 15 foot hedges that surround the property and it's been difficult at best to keep it under control. I decided that if I don't get the job this week that the rest of the house, inside and out, is getting painted.

Driver - Those babies!!!!!!

Bilr - I hope you hear about the job very soon and think your plan is a good one. I'd like to get some mate, I'm becoming pretty reliant on coffee. I've had the pre-made kind in the jar, but they usually sweeten it, which I don't like. There's a tea place here that sells a couple different kinds (maybe smoked and not?), I'll pick some up. Do you drink that instead of coffee?

I'm off to meet friends for breakfast this morning. Mellow day! Yay. I need to do some gardening, but it rained here yesterday and everything is pretty much soaked. I've got some cauliflower to plant and want to try something else - not sure what yet. I've also been planning what I need to get my basement studio set-up...if only I had a smidgen of construction-ability it would be a lot easier. :)

Reflection, I would buy Mate online as those stores have a huge markup. The brand I like best is guayaki because you can find unsmoked and it's from Argentina. I drink it without sugar in my Mr Coffee iced tea maker.

Five members of my family (out of six of us) got a terrible cold/cough/fever the last couple of weeks. I didn't, even with my sick daughter hanging all over me. I attribute this to taking much better care of myself, but also to an all natural supplement that I take called Moducare. One of our clients insisted that it cured his cancer. It is basically plant sterols. My immune system has never been better!

I forgot that I'm taking powdered L-arginine mixed with water on a daily basis. I have been pretty religious with this and haven't had a cold since we moved to Florida. It is a simple amino acid so I feel pretty good about taking it.

Well, MY day SUCKED! I was so excited to see a gal who truly was my BF and co-worker for YEARS in the States. She was on a cruiseship visiting today. We woke up at 3:00am to meet the ship in port at around 8-8:30. A 3-hour drive from our house. Well, turns out, she and her husband are travelling with another couple. She never told me this when we talked. She called me after disembarking to ask where we were. I told her we would be there in about 1/2 hour. (BTW...we had never been to that port before...thank goodness for our GPS!). Anyway, during this call she asked if we had room in our car for SIX people. Well, I didn't know she meant 6 TOTAL (including us), but even so....we had luggage in the back since at the end of the day we planned to continue to the mechanic (about another 1 1/ hours) who had just rebuilt our motor for its 500 mi. check up and stay for a couple of days. Soooooo....we ended up meeting them - 2 couples- and since they couldn't fit in our car, they rented a van. Hubby negotiated a great all day rate for them, and we told them we would follow the van since we had luggage/computers etc. in our car and didn't want to leave it at the port. My friend did not even go in our car.:wild WELL.....turns out...the van driver somehow convinced them to go to see the "monkeys", followed by the crocodiles and then to the beach. Had ANYONE discussed this with us FIRST, we would have told them how FAR each thing is from each other. Thank goodness at least the monkeys were on the way to where we were ultimately going. TWO HOURS of driving later....they saw the monkeys. I realized where they were headed to "see the crocodiles" and said, no....we can't do that....(it was about 3 hours further AWAY from where we needed to be headed) and so we stopped for lunch (about 11:00am. We left from there...and they went on their way. Now, I DO realize that my friend is on vacation, AND that she wanted to "see stuff", but when we talked about this (over a week ago) she told me that we would just walk around town and then maybe go to the beach after having lunch. BOTTOM LINE....I think we were able to "visit" for about 1/2 hour....during lunch! Very disappointed:scorebad THEN....as we were driving to San Jose, to stay at a B and B (the owner of which referred us to this mechanic), BAM the temperature gauge went to RED as we were on an incline in the road. SAME PROBLEM WE HAD BEFORE THE NEW MOTOR. So.....here we sit, seeing the mechanic tomorrow....and maybe PAID $3000.00 FOR NOTHING! (2nd rebuild in TWO years, mind you).....sooooo that was MY day! UGH!:headbange

Trudging, Luckily Miami is mostly a starting and ending point for cruises so most of our friends are looking to get on the ship in the beginning or get home at the end. My wife's friend met her a few months ago before a cruise. She didn't tell her she was traveling with her elderly mother so my wife ended up driving them around all the sites of Miami. Luckily I got out of going because it was all women. What your friend did would have made me mad but people end up losing there sensibility when on vacation like that. What she did still wasn't right though. She was probably afraid to hurt the other couples feelings and ended up hurting yours.

Trudging, I am sorry. That really sucks! I am trying so hard with the "lose your expectations" thing because I do think that will bring me peace, but easier said than done. I am in a really irritated mood lately. I feel resentful about having to spend some of my Mother's Day with my mom, I feel worried about my husband's job because things have been a stressful mess there lately, my eldest son has such bad senioritis that I sometimes feel like he is an entirely different child and we are snarling at each other a lot and I feel like I am gaining weight again despite watching what I eat and exercising. I feel so sick of being "good". I am starting to feel like "Where's the payoff? What's in it for me?" Resentment is a big trigger for me and I can feel my AV trying to capitalize on it.

DD, it seems like you and I are going through some of the same things. My wife's work is also going through some major stresses and I hardly see her during the week, which is causing some resentment. Senioritis, I've seen some of my daughters friends go from high honors to not even making honor roll this year. Luckily my daughter has taken it more seriously and had good enough grades not to have to take any final exams. If and when I don't get the job this week I will also be asking "where is the payoff?"

I only know that if I were to drink, I wouldn't be present enough to be in the moment but would be more stressed out than normal right now. All these things will pass.

Thanks, all....wow....it must be something in the stars! I know how you all are feeling.....NOTHING seems to be going right lately, BUT....today is a new day! (Thank goodness!!!) Yes, Billr....my feelings WERE hurt....but, hey, I'll get over it! TODAY....we GET to take our car back to the mechanic. Talked to a friend and our oldest son last night (who knows EVERYTHING about cars). Have a checklist to go through with mechanic. We are then going to look at new(er) cars on a lot with our friend and see if we can trade this lemon in....we have spent thousands on this car, since buying it (used) 4 years ago....gotta face reality. AND THEN....we GET to go to the dentist! I found a USA trained dentist here, and hubby is going to have deep root cleaning/scaling today. I AM GOING TO THE MALL! He has a lot of work to be done....this is just the beginning.....but, again....it can ALL only get better, right????

I've learned that cars are definitely not an investment. My car is paid off and I'm driving it until it starts having major problems. I hope that your husband gets through the dental work feeling better. How is his sobriety going?

No word from JL lately. I hope he is doing okay.

Yeah, we drive cars until they die. We had a Ford Expedition that lasted until it had around 275,000 miles. I feel totally loyal to Ford.

Arrgh.
Cars. I had one of ours in last week for a valve cover gasket replacement . . . which turned into a clutch replacement. And then, because the valve cover replacement increased the oil pressure, a couple of other gaskets blew, so now it's back in the shop for another $1K repair. On the other hand, it's twenty years old, so it's not a surprise.

To all of you facing trials and tribulations -- hang in there! Or, to channel "Finding Nemo", "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

Fishy

It never fails but whenever I take my car in for repairs it's at least a grand. Luckily that doesn't happen very often and I haven't missed making car payments since 2008.

Yep, trials and tribulations seems to be a theme. Just think how miserably we would be handling these things drunk and hungover.

The landscaping guy came today and trimmed all my hedges down considerably. Weird but my yard actually seemed brighter. I have been putting what should be done once a month off since early fall. Hmm, right around the time I was getting sober so maybe I had other priorities since.

Well, turns out that once the guy did the new motor, he did NOT go back and re-check cooling system and/or do compression test. Now we need a new clutch fan. Made a decision to sell it, so staying an extra day in San Jose, taking the bus home tomorrow and looking for another car today. Thank goodness for my hubby's childhood friend! Hubby's cleaning went great! AND WE ARE BOTH STILL SOBER.....I am swimming! Sent off the demand for a decision by the University President last night as well. Today is D-day for him. Have the lawyer paperwork ready to go.....it's ALL only money, right???? Looking as Suzuki, Toyota and Hyundai .... all SUVS. Popular makes down here which is important for mechanics.

I guess warranties are non existent in CR? I remember living in Spain you had to drive what they sold. Living here you don't realize all the choices that you have with everything. The internet has made the world a smaller place but not that small.

Glad to hear that your husband is doing well after the dentist and you both are enjoying sobriety.

Okay, so I sent an email to the hiring manager thanking him for considering me again. I then said that if I'm not being considered, that I'd like to make alternate plans for the month of June. These plans include travel so I'd like to have an answer this week, if possible. I then reiterated that my first preference is to work there but I need to make other plans if that's not going to happen.

I only think it's fair because it's been a month since I interviewed and if they really liked me something should happen by now. I'm a lot more patient now but I think I've waited long enough. I still like have some control over my life and not having this carrot held over my head only to find out I didn't get it. If I wowed them that much I think I would have heard by now. Or as the old saying goes, sh1t or get off the pot.

Bilr, in my husband's current position, he had to wait for over a month for the offer. We came to find out that they had first offered the job to another person (a woman and a minority). They couldn't come to salary and package terms so they offered the job to my husband. Her loss!! They were vague with my husband because they didn't want to lose him as a possibility.

Yeah, I understand these things do take time. At this point though I will have to ask for a week off in June if I get the job. I am going to visit my parents for a week so it is a deal breaker. The job would not be in a management capacity so I'm not why it would take so long.

My wife is a minority (and a woman, obviously, lol) so she has always had an easier time just getting interviews. She got her current job so quickly that we had about two weeks to move. Needless to say we couldn't even be there for most of the packing because the kids were in school down here.

I'll let you know if I hear anything back.

I gotta agree with you Billr....it seems long enough.....time to decide....I am still waiting to hear from the President...UGH! Car shopping today .... decided to buy a new (used) one, and sell ours....found TWO! Soooo we are having them both checked out by a mechanic...then we shall see....but, it looks live a Rav 4, 2001.... $11000.000 here! $5,000. in CA....lol....