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Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
"Do you want the bad news or the bad news?"
I asked my husband earlier if he could tighten the faucet in the tub. It wasn't dripping, but running a continual stream.
Idiot me thought that you could just give it a tweak.
My husband used some stinky spray stuff (PB Blaster, if memory serves) to loosen up something. He went from the bathroom to then the hallway access panel.
I knew that wasn't good.
In the end, he said that the faucet needs replaced. To replace the faucet calls for the surround to be pulled out. To pull the surround out would resolve the issue of the misfit and the fact that no matter how hard I try, water collects and causes mold. Honestly, I'm kind of good with replacing the surround.
I had plans on painting the bathroom. I didn't get to do it last year as I wanted. Hubs said that he's glad that I didn't. In fact, just a few weeks ago I bought paint and a new bathroom fan.
Hubs asked if I wanted a jacuzzi tub. I declined.
I asked him if he wanted to install a window in a windowless bathroom. He declined.
We have to call in our plumber. Usually, we're (Hubs) is able to handle things. When it comes to plumbing overhaul (which is what we suspect in this case), we bring Butch to the rescue. We love Butch.
In the end, it isn't the type of overhaul on the bathroom that we did before. Right after we bought the house, we did a poor guy, year long redo on the bathroom. Given my work schedule and Hubs' work schedule, it took us a while but we got it done. We had to replace the floor including the sub, toilet, install a medicine cabinet, frame the surround and around the mirror, rewire the bathroom, replace the fan, replace the towel bars, repaint the cabinet and replace knobs, replace the sink faucet, replace the swag lights with a wall mount and the install a shower can above the tub since the wall mount cast a shadow across the bathroom and re-tile back behind the sink. Whew.
This run will call for the border to be removed, repaint the ceiling and walls, replace the surround, replace the fan with a super quiet one, get the plumbing fixed and replace a little bit of woodwork. Voila.
Still, we sit in the land of, "All I wanted to do was paint." Growing up, that's all my mom ever wanted to do. In her case, a wall was ripped out, found to contain asbestos, the room was tented, the ceiling raised because of layers of lath and in the end, it took probably 4 months to paint the front room.
We're hoping we don't have the same length of time. Ugh.
Idiot me thought that you could just give it a tweak.
My husband used some stinky spray stuff (PB Blaster, if memory serves) to loosen up something. He went from the bathroom to then the hallway access panel.
I knew that wasn't good.
In the end, he said that the faucet needs replaced. To replace the faucet calls for the surround to be pulled out. To pull the surround out would resolve the issue of the misfit and the fact that no matter how hard I try, water collects and causes mold. Honestly, I'm kind of good with replacing the surround.
I had plans on painting the bathroom. I didn't get to do it last year as I wanted. Hubs said that he's glad that I didn't. In fact, just a few weeks ago I bought paint and a new bathroom fan.
Hubs asked if I wanted a jacuzzi tub. I declined.
I asked him if he wanted to install a window in a windowless bathroom. He declined.
We have to call in our plumber. Usually, we're (Hubs) is able to handle things. When it comes to plumbing overhaul (which is what we suspect in this case), we bring Butch to the rescue. We love Butch.
In the end, it isn't the type of overhaul on the bathroom that we did before. Right after we bought the house, we did a poor guy, year long redo on the bathroom. Given my work schedule and Hubs' work schedule, it took us a while but we got it done. We had to replace the floor including the sub, toilet, install a medicine cabinet, frame the surround and around the mirror, rewire the bathroom, replace the fan, replace the towel bars, repaint the cabinet and replace knobs, replace the sink faucet, replace the swag lights with a wall mount and the install a shower can above the tub since the wall mount cast a shadow across the bathroom and re-tile back behind the sink. Whew.
This run will call for the border to be removed, repaint the ceiling and walls, replace the surround, replace the fan with a super quiet one, get the plumbing fixed and replace a little bit of woodwork. Voila.
Still, we sit in the land of, "All I wanted to do was paint." Growing up, that's all my mom ever wanted to do. In her case, a wall was ripped out, found to contain asbestos, the room was tented, the ceiling raised because of layers of lath and in the end, it took probably 4 months to paint the front room.
We're hoping we don't have the same length of time. Ugh.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Punishment and appropriateness.
I was just reading the article about the mom who made her child wear "ugly" clothes to school because she had been bullying someone about the clothes that they were wearing. I guess that someone thought it was a dreadful punishment. Personally, it is exactly what I would have done. (K wears the American school uniform. For us, it doesn't apply.)
It got me to thinking about weird things I've done. I remember blogging about K and the broken crayons. I know that some people would have thought I was horrible. I recall standing outside the kindergarten door, calling K to come so that we can go to the store. Her teacher asked in a sing-songy fun voice, "Are you buying something fun?" K told her that she was going to go buy a box of crayons. Mrs. H kind of tipped her head a bit and I explained what happened. I told her that there had been some kindergarten peer pressure, K broke up all of her crayons as a result and were now going to replace them.
"I wondered why she was using broken crayons all week."
"I told her that she had to. I told her that she had to not only use the broken crayons, but she also needed to do extra chores to earn money to purchase a box of crayons herself. The box of crayons she buys has to be Crayola and I'm taking her to Walgreen's so that the $2.00 that she earned will be basically entirely spent on that box."
She told me that she would have a talk with the class about treating our friends nicely and so forth. She understood my doing that, but in mom circles just like the article that I've referenced above, I would have probably been considered abusive.
You know what? It didn't hurt K. It did, however, teach her a lesson.
K is currently under TV restriction. She did poorly on a reading test that we studied and studied on. She didn't read carefully and didn't do well. The OAA has really made K's brain check out, but I told her that she must press on for a few weeks longer. K is without TV until I get that test in my hand and see that she has done better. Yes, I realize that it is a long holiday weekend. (She got a D. A C or better in my house is what we consider passable.) K had gotten two D's a few weeks ago on her weekly reading tests, got a C, then went back to a D. She called and she 'fessed up. I told her that first and foremost, we wanted to praise that 100% on the spelling test. I told her that we would look over the reading test to see what went wrong. Part of the wrongness was that the teacher missed a question and marked it wrong when it was right. She also didn't count written answers for points, when clearly one answer should have been 1/2 credit. I did mention the question that was completely right. Hubs wanted me to mention the written responses and I told him that they were subjective and I won't argue those. Part of K thinking that her teacher isn't loving her isn't helping her cause. Still, a few more weeks and we are outta there. She's got to know that her brain must still function. It is not an option.
Other unusual punishments? K had repeatedly (for months and months) forgotten her chores. I was so tired of getting after her about them that I came upon a wonderful idea. I wait until she is good and asleep. Snoring. I then go and give her a good shake. It's only taken twice of my having to wake her from deep sleep and have her take recycling out to the bin in the rain, in the dark and down the back yard and break down her lunch pack. She makes a point of telling me, "Mom! Look! I'm taking the recycling out!" She's even good at remembering to take the compost container down to the barrel and emptying it out, too.
I also have K write. If I have to have her write about something a few different times, what she writes gets longer. I have one on my desk right now. "I will not moan and groan." There is also, "I will obey my mom and dad. I will listen to what I am told and I will NOT do as I choose anyway. I will do what I am told the FIRST time." (Obviously, I've had to have her write that one 4 different times. It grows a sentence each time we have to have her write it.) It starts with 5 and goes up with 5 time increments until she has stopped the grumbling and funkiness. She's written 10x. She's written 35x. It doesn't hurt her and maybe she'll learn how to spell a few new words.
I think that it is important that we discipline our children. I applaud creativity with discipline. I don't applaud abusiveness. The children will remember what we went through to try to teach them a lesson. Hopefully, it will stick.
It got me to thinking about weird things I've done. I remember blogging about K and the broken crayons. I know that some people would have thought I was horrible. I recall standing outside the kindergarten door, calling K to come so that we can go to the store. Her teacher asked in a sing-songy fun voice, "Are you buying something fun?" K told her that she was going to go buy a box of crayons. Mrs. H kind of tipped her head a bit and I explained what happened. I told her that there had been some kindergarten peer pressure, K broke up all of her crayons as a result and were now going to replace them.
"I wondered why she was using broken crayons all week."
"I told her that she had to. I told her that she had to not only use the broken crayons, but she also needed to do extra chores to earn money to purchase a box of crayons herself. The box of crayons she buys has to be Crayola and I'm taking her to Walgreen's so that the $2.00 that she earned will be basically entirely spent on that box."
She told me that she would have a talk with the class about treating our friends nicely and so forth. She understood my doing that, but in mom circles just like the article that I've referenced above, I would have probably been considered abusive.
You know what? It didn't hurt K. It did, however, teach her a lesson.
K is currently under TV restriction. She did poorly on a reading test that we studied and studied on. She didn't read carefully and didn't do well. The OAA has really made K's brain check out, but I told her that she must press on for a few weeks longer. K is without TV until I get that test in my hand and see that she has done better. Yes, I realize that it is a long holiday weekend. (She got a D. A C or better in my house is what we consider passable.) K had gotten two D's a few weeks ago on her weekly reading tests, got a C, then went back to a D. She called and she 'fessed up. I told her that first and foremost, we wanted to praise that 100% on the spelling test. I told her that we would look over the reading test to see what went wrong. Part of the wrongness was that the teacher missed a question and marked it wrong when it was right. She also didn't count written answers for points, when clearly one answer should have been 1/2 credit. I did mention the question that was completely right. Hubs wanted me to mention the written responses and I told him that they were subjective and I won't argue those. Part of K thinking that her teacher isn't loving her isn't helping her cause. Still, a few more weeks and we are outta there. She's got to know that her brain must still function. It is not an option.
Other unusual punishments? K had repeatedly (for months and months) forgotten her chores. I was so tired of getting after her about them that I came upon a wonderful idea. I wait until she is good and asleep. Snoring. I then go and give her a good shake. It's only taken twice of my having to wake her from deep sleep and have her take recycling out to the bin in the rain, in the dark and down the back yard and break down her lunch pack. She makes a point of telling me, "Mom! Look! I'm taking the recycling out!" She's even good at remembering to take the compost container down to the barrel and emptying it out, too.
I also have K write. If I have to have her write about something a few different times, what she writes gets longer. I have one on my desk right now. "I will not moan and groan." There is also, "I will obey my mom and dad. I will listen to what I am told and I will NOT do as I choose anyway. I will do what I am told the FIRST time." (Obviously, I've had to have her write that one 4 different times. It grows a sentence each time we have to have her write it.) It starts with 5 and goes up with 5 time increments until she has stopped the grumbling and funkiness. She's written 10x. She's written 35x. It doesn't hurt her and maybe she'll learn how to spell a few new words.
I think that it is important that we discipline our children. I applaud creativity with discipline. I don't applaud abusiveness. The children will remember what we went through to try to teach them a lesson. Hopefully, it will stick.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
And the final answer is . . .
. . . Yes, we are on the spooty hacker list. I finally got through the city information line. We've done all we can. I asked that when the FBI and city get everything figured out, will they send information on to those with compromised information. The person couldn't tell me. I'm guessing that we won't find anything more out.
Rrrr.
I started freezing everything within hours that it happened. Everything is on monitor and fraud alerts are with all three agencies. Now is the time we sit and home nothing happens.
No news is good news, right?
Rrrr.
I started freezing everything within hours that it happened. Everything is on monitor and fraud alerts are with all three agencies. Now is the time we sit and home nothing happens.
No news is good news, right?
Saturday, May 18, 2013
You are, you aren't. I am, I'm not. 47,000. 8,000. 30,000.
Does the right hand know what the left hand is doing? Ugh with this whole stupid city tax department breach thing. After I had been told that I wasn't "on the list" then I receive a reverse 911 call telling me that I was. Their first list was 47,000. Their second was 8,000. Now, they say it is 30,000.
What?
I e-mailed my friend who was a money laundering specialist with a bank branch for a number of years. She now works for the Federal Reserve. (I think that she audits banks, but that isn't the correct term. It's kind of what she does.) For whatever it is worth, she has experience with such things. A lot of experience. Her information has been breached before. There was a big bank breach that involved her. That was about 5 years ago and she said that thankfully, she has seen nothing of it. Her Marshall's card was compromised. Just last week, someone charged something on her credit card in a city she wasn't in. The bank caught it and all is well.
Her bit? What I did was right. She said that we run a higher risk of fraud and ID theft. She said that she would stay with the credit monitoring that I put in place and that the security freeze is a must right now. She said that after time, I could have it lifted, but I don't know that I want to unless I need it.
The city has a service line that is open this weekend to help handle calls. I've been trying to call the number since 8 AM to see if we're on some revised list.
I can't get through.
Rrrr.
What?
I e-mailed my friend who was a money laundering specialist with a bank branch for a number of years. She now works for the Federal Reserve. (I think that she audits banks, but that isn't the correct term. It's kind of what she does.) For whatever it is worth, she has experience with such things. A lot of experience. Her information has been breached before. There was a big bank breach that involved her. That was about 5 years ago and she said that thankfully, she has seen nothing of it. Her Marshall's card was compromised. Just last week, someone charged something on her credit card in a city she wasn't in. The bank caught it and all is well.
Her bit? What I did was right. She said that we run a higher risk of fraud and ID theft. She said that she would stay with the credit monitoring that I put in place and that the security freeze is a must right now. She said that after time, I could have it lifted, but I don't know that I want to unless I need it.
The city has a service line that is open this weekend to help handle calls. I've been trying to call the number since 8 AM to see if we're on some revised list.
I can't get through.
Rrrr.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Why do people hack and take information and post it and ARGH!
I've spent last evening and today (when the pile of mulch is still talking to me) working with Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to put a security freeze on our social security numbers since some other country hacker decided to steal sensitive information and post it for all to see. They hacked the city website, got our information from the city tax files and have laid it out for everyone. The FBI is trying to see to what extent the information is released, but I can tell you that we are now subscribers to the Equifax Family Plan (our daughter is included) and now have everything frozen with everyone. I can't think of anything more to do.
People can make me crabby sometimes. RRRRR!
ETA:
A friend of a friend's husband works at the city tax department. He was gathering all of the names of everyone he knew so that he could confirm whether their SSNs and personal information were really released. He heard of us, researched it and we were NOT on the release list as the city e-mail that was sent to us stated. Still, we have heeded this warning and all of our personal information will remain on security freeze and monitoring. :wipe of the forehead: I just don't understand why people are so hateful and nasty.
People can make me crabby sometimes. RRRRR!
ETA:
A friend of a friend's husband works at the city tax department. He was gathering all of the names of everyone he knew so that he could confirm whether their SSNs and personal information were really released. He heard of us, researched it and we were NOT on the release list as the city e-mail that was sent to us stated. Still, we have heeded this warning and all of our personal information will remain on security freeze and monitoring. :wipe of the forehead: I just don't understand why people are so hateful and nasty.
My project for the weekend.
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I shall press on to the nearest Circle K to obtain a half gallon of soda (AKA Polar Pop.) This will be powered by caffeine.
Have a good day!
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