What did you do today?

[Tom Picciani]

In Lancaster, Pa we have such good locally owned breakfast places, I don't need IHOP.

On the home improvement front found a place that offers frames for pictures at reasonable prices. I have a bunch of astro-photos that need printed and framing. Using a local shop for the printing and using frameiteasy.com for the frame, matte, and glass. I spent $95 for black wood frames with backing, matte, and plexi. Frames are 15x18. Should have them in a day or two. Time to hang pictures!

 

[Floorist]

In Lancaster, Pa we have such good locally owned breakfast places, I don't need IHOP.

On the home improvement front found a place that offers frames for pictures at reasonable prices. I have a bunch of astro-photos that need printed and framing. Using a local shop for the printing and using frameiteasy.com for the frame, matte, and glass. I spent $95 for black wood frames with backing, matte, and plexi. Frames are 15x18. Should have them in a day or two. Time to hang pictures!

We go to a truck stop about 15 miles from here 2 full breakfasts with coffee are about $13.

 

[zannej]

The only decent restaurant close to me is the Mexican restaurant but the prices are high & all of their beverages suck bc there's something wrong with the water. It has some sort of nasty flavor to it. Anything with ice & anything made with water is gross. The diner that was there before the restaurant opened also had the same problem. Something in the water in that building is nasty.

More drama in town here. A few of my friends spotted the sister of the teen who attacked my friend's fiance actively plotting to get a group of people together to go attack her when she gets out of jail. They were trying to get a guy who has a lot of photos of himself with firearms to come along. Several of them pledged they were going to join in & go to my friend's house to wait for her. These are grown women who have kids-- plotting to physically attack an 80lb girl. My friend took screenshots & took them to the parish police. Got restraining orders from all of them & the cops said he could use as much force as he wanted if they showed up & tried anything. He & the cops informed every last one of them they were not allowed near him & his fiance. I've offered to go over and sit with her when he's at work in case they are stupid enough to risk going to jail by showing up. Another vehicle in the driveway might deter them. If not, I can take pics/video of them & call the cops to have them arrested. My mother also said she can stay at our house where they won't be able to find her.

They haven't let her call my friend since she went to the prison so he's worried sick about her.

I'm really hoping the DA will drop the charges- 2nd degree battery is a BS charge. She had no intent & did not inflict serious bodily harm. But I know they will start with a much higher charge & either plead down or have lower charges that a jury might agree to. There are people who have done far worse who got released the next day & got lower charges.

 

[zannej]

So, a few months back-- I think in May or June-- my friend had received notice that his property taxes hadn't been paid (he'd given his mother the $ bc it was in her name but she pocketed the $ instead). They told him he had one day to pay the taxes (to both Parish & city) or his house would be auctioned off. We spotted him the $ & he paid them both. My mother told him to ask them for a homestead exemption so he applied & was granted it. The parish wanted $600+ but the city only asked for $60. There was no auction & he never received any letters from either of them after that. Fastforward to today when my friend tried to put the property up as collateral to bail his fiance out (more on that situation in a bit). The tax clerk at the parish told him that he had not paid taxes to them bc he was exempt (I pointed out that the exemption kicked in AFTER he paid)- the then confirmed it had been paid, but she said the city was claiming the taxes had never been paid & that they had taken possession of the home. His mother went ballistic (bc she still co-owns the house). She went to go yell at the mayor & tried to get things sorted out. They were saying he'd have to pay something like $610 to get his property back. The people at city hall said they had no record of his payment & that he could not make partial payments over time and that every month it wasn't fully paid they added $100 to the price. They are basically stealing his house from him over taxes he paid. Don't know if the clerk just pocketed the $ or just forgot to put it in the system. But he's extremely pissed off now. He thinks the receipt from paying might have gotten thrown out bc he didn't foresee needing it. They never sent him a single letter to notify him that he was supposedly in arrears. I think he's supposed to be given at least 6 months from the time taxes are due & has to be notified in writing- but this place is corrupt AF. I'm trying to get him to see if he can get a free consultation with an attorney to get it sorted out.

Speaking of the corruption, it turns out the judge had signed the warrant at 8:30am on Thursday so they easily could have granted her a bond hearing then but they lied to all of us & claimed it wasn't signed until 6pm bc if we knew the real time, the timer for how long she could be held pending bond hearing would have started earlier. The holiday they closed for did not pause the timer bc it wasn't federal so they detained her for well over the maximum allowed time. Not sure if it's worth him suing over or making a stink about it. They set her bail at $4k. They had put her in genpop in the prison along with murderers & very violent people. Fortunately, one of the more intimidating inmates in there (who's there for capital murder) took a liking to her so no one would lay a hand on her. She saw other inmates fighting & getting beaten up which scared her. The jail "misplaced" some of her property that they'd had before she was transferred to the prison. don't know if they ever "found" it. They didn't give her any of her heart medicine or anxiety medicine the entire time she was in custody & the food made her nauseous. While she was in there another woman was brought in who had a swollen bleeding face, broken rib, & was throwing up blood. The woman had an ectopic pregnancy & needed emergency surgery & should have been at the hospital, but she was being denied medical treatment. She was brought in bc her boyfriend beat the hell out of her & they charged her for defending herself. The boyfriend was also booked in but looked like he didn't have a mark on him.

At least the bailbondsman was nice. He said in all the years he's been in that job, he's never seen someone get charged like that in a situation like hers. He was shocked they put her in genpop given her size & appearance. She looks 12. He cut his fee in half & said it could be paid later but that the stuff the court had to get had to be paid but he'd try to help us figure out how to get it done. Fortunately between us, we had just enough for the fees & bail & my friend can pay the extra stuff to him later. He was very sympathetic and nice.

She also confirmed my suspicions that the phone did not cause the bleeding head injury. She also said the brat stole her shoes. Brat had put them on & when she told her to take them off & give them back, brat refused & threatened violence. She told her to take the shoes off, put her own shoes on, and get out. Brat swore at her and refused. After the kick when she reflexively threw the phone, the brat punched her, slammed her against the wall, pummeled her & tried to knock her down. She grappled with her and managed to get her to the door. Brat was trying to get on top of her so she used her leverage to shove as hard as she could & push the brat out the door & off the porch. Up until that point there was just a white mark on the brat's head. Then the brat threw herself on the ground, wailing, and rolling around. She must have hit her head on something on the ground bc that was when her head started bleeding. Brat's family are claiming she has a hole in her head now- which could not have happened from the little iPhone. But could have happened if she hit her head on the steps or the paving stones.

The brat's mother was one of the people involved in conspiring to attack the girl- and the mother is the one who told her to put her hands on her in the first place to get her to leave.

I want to help my friend out but $610 is a lot of money & I think my friend should fight it-- but he's afraid they will instantly evict him. I don't think they can legally do that though. Not that they care about legality. Hoping something will work out.

The cabinet he wanted to get was sold out so he was bummed by that & he doesn't want to fix anything up in the house until he has ownership back.

On the bright side, the furniture set that matches mine was NOT sold as the lady had said. I guess the buyer reneged. The old man was there & he sold me the one piece I wanted for $25. It's in rougher shape than I realized but for that price, I'm Ok with that. It will still work for storage & will match my set. It's pretty damn heavy though. We had a hell of a time getting it in to the house. I need to clear a path & move furniture around to make room for it.

 

[zannej]

Today was busy again. Went to City Hall with my friend & had him record the clerk admitting that they sent the notices of his property taxes to the wrong address so neither he nor his mother ever received them. Clerk said it didn't matter whether or not he knew, the late fees were still applied. His lawyer had told him the city is so corrupt that he better just pay or they would take his house & then he could try to get reimbursed if he could find proof he'd paid or hadn't been notified. Said the city would manufacture return receipts to claim he received notice-- but the were more honest than we expected. I saw a security camera system in there so they would have video of the day he came in to pay. We were both polite to her & apologized for my friend's mother shouting at her the day before. She told us taxes are always due by Dec 21st & he could find out the amount due in late October. He said he wanted to talk to the tax assessor (who works in another town) to see about getting his taxes reduced bc his house is in crap condition. We told her how the whole back side had fallen off & how it had been a crack house before he moved in & started cleaning it up. I mentioned that the tax assessor is a nice guy & she agreed & said we could just talk to him. She was very pleasant & said that if he could find the receipt for when he claimed he paid, he could bring it back in to get reimbursed.
Another person told me the late fees are scaled based on the property value and that $100/mo is excessive for most properties-- said it would have be an extremely valuable property to get that high of a fee. The initial tax was less than $100 so it just seems bogus for it to be *that* high. But now he's not going to get his house taken away.

But he opened his electric bill (which is usually $200) and it was $689. His water bill (which is usually $40) had a credit of $150 so they said it was $153. The water company is notorious for bogus charges. It's been in the newspaper, but nobody will do anything about it. He checked all around the house to see if someone else had hooked in to his power or water, but no signs so we don't know WTF is up with that.

Upside is, I saw a listing for a washer & dryer where they said the washing machine needed repairs & dryer was in perfect condition. For both appliances AND the pedestals it was $270 total. The washer & dryer are easily $800 a piece when new and the pedestals are usually $150 to $200 each. The seller was a nice lady with a pretty Husky dog who was "talking" to us the whole time. Very sweet dog. We got the washing machine loaded on the porch & off the pedestal. Got the old dryer out of the laundry room & put the new one in. Then we 3 monkeys managed to get the working washing machine on the new pedestal.

I manged to get a pic of my new entertainment shelf that matches my bedroom furniture. Yasuke approves.

It's particle board covered in laminate & it's from the 90s so it's in rough shape. The bottom got wet & has crumbled a bit. I'm trying to figure out what I can do to reinforce it & also to make it easier to slide on the floor. Any suggestions?

 

[Floorist]

Got a biopsy, surgeon put a tweety bird Band-Aid on it.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Got a biopsy, surgeon put a tweety bird Band-Aid on it.

Biopsy for what? Tell the surgeon the lump on your shoulders is called the head.

 

[Floorist]

Biopsy for what? Tell the surgeon the lump on your shoulders is called the head.

My doctor thought it might be skin cancer. Surgeon does not think so, but sent it to be tested.

 

[zannej]

Rusty, I hope it's benign.

I spent the morning in the ER with my mother. She couldn't keep anything down all day yesterday & complained of back pain. I got her some lidocain patches which helped, but she was still very nauseous. She puked up her soup, her water, her anti-nausea medicine, & anything she swallowed. She puked at least 15 times. She kept calling me all night to get her stuff or help her with things- changing the patch, bringing her tissues, helping her find new pajamas after she puked on herself. I finally started to get to sleep around 6am when she called again & wanted to go to the ER. She has good insurance so they were very nice to her & ran a bunch of tests. At one point the doctor came in & said they were going to do a CT scan on her head. We asked why bc none of her symptoms related to it. He said something about being dizzy & I asked him if he was sure he had the right patient. He stepped out & asked the nurse. Nope. Wrong patient. The nurse came in later & said it was good that we questioned him on it. They had to stick my mother with needles to take blood about 4 times. Had to fill up different vials with separate needles bc of some new containers that are too small or something-- nurse kept complaining about the change & how she hated they had to stick the patients more. They wanted to get cultures from both arms but she accidentally went through the vein on one hand so Mom has a nasty bruise where the blood pooled under the skin. She was relatively calm through it. They also put in an IV. Even though she had nothing left but bile, she still had to throw up. I asked if they had a barf bag so they got me one & injected some meds in her IV to try to stop the nausea. It didn't work so they had to give her more of it later. Her blood pressure shot up to 205/89 so they gave her something to lower it. She was really wanting to go home at that point but they wanted to get a urine sample but she was too dehydrated. She was finally able to pee after she got 1- 3/4 bags of fluids in her. They did a CT scan on her abdomen to see if she had a kidney stone. Cultures came back clean-- no infection, just a minor virus. She did have a huge kidney stone but it's not causing pain. They said she'll need an ultrasound to break it up when it starts to come down but they said it's possible it might not even move. I managed to step out to get breakfast around 9:30. She was finally released after 11am. We went to Walmart to pick up the prescription for nausea meds that she puts under her tongue & some Gatorade & Powerade. They said she can't eat anything but clear fluids for the next few days. Makes things easier for me bc I don't have to cook for her for a bit, but I still have to change the patches on her back & get stuff for her if she needs it. When she got in her room & back in bed, one of the cats zerged in bc he desperately wanted to see her. He pounced on her and snuggled her for awhile before I took him out of the room. He keeps trying to get back in to see her. The dog was jealously growling at the cat but the cat responded by cuddling the dog. She just called me again, she'd gone to the living room to watch TV & another cat had climbed on her & wanted to cuddle her & she couldn't get him off of her. I walked in & she told me that the cat behind me was reaching for me. Apparently when he saw me through the glass door he was reaching his paw out toward me (he will reach like that when I'm across the room & he wants me to come pet him). I extricated the cats & helped her get her cane & get back to her room & get some more gatorade. She likes the glacier cherry.

I was finally able to get some sleep for a few hours. Fedex left a package on the doorstep while I was napping-- it was an adapter for my friend's dryer cord to go from a 4-prong plug to 3prong receptacle (has an extra ground wire that goes in the ground of another outlet). I took it over to him & he changed out the cord & then said the adapter didn't match the picture. I said that it did. He mentioned the weird L-shaped thing was not right, I said that it was the proper configuration. He showed me the plug on his dryer. I facepalmed & said "That's a range plug!" He went and looked it up & a few minutes later said "You were right!" (love those 3 little words. LOL). So, he just needs to get the right plug bc his dryer won't work with the 3-prong plug for some reason. (Which is part of why I will be upgrading to a 4-prong plug & outlet when I redo the laundry room- I want it to be safer & don't want problems if we ever have to get a new dryer).

He went with me over to pick up a vanity lamp from facebook marketplace. I showed the picture to my mother & she really liked it. It's gold with some mirrored stuff & cut glass shade thingies (can't remember the term). They wanted $15 for it. Seller gave me her address & I recognized the street name. I said it was down near where there was a tower with a giant slide. She said "I live right next to it!". I wish my CR-V had GPS bc it would have been funny if I'd driven it out there. Pulled up in the driveway (friend went with me to help me spot the place) & she had two blue CR-Vs. I complimented her on the car choice & mentioned I had the same kind at the house & my truck was a Honda. She liked the truck. I showed her the side-swing tailgate & the trunk. She said it made a nice "girl's truck" bc of the trunk. I said that I used it to haul plywood, lumber, furniture & appliances. She was a nice lady & she knew some of the people out in my area.

Meanwhile, my friend reported that the brat & her mother who have "stay away" orders have been walking by his house. His fiance filmed them. The brat keeps coming over & standing right in front of their sidewalk on their side of the street & keeps trying to lure their dog over. She's been known to steal other people's dogs. She also keeps walking by, stopping, & staring at the fiance. Mind you, the brat got a restraining order against the girl claiming she feared for her safety yet she keeps going over to her house & trying to antagonize her. Brat also started trying to harass her on social media (so she blocked her). She took screenshots of it & took that & the photos to the local cops to complain about the violation of the order. They said "It's a public street so she can walk down it". They didn't care about the social media harassment either. She said to them "It's like she's asking to get an a$$-beating!". My friend argued that it doesn't matter if it's a public street when there are many other streets the brat can walk down to get to her destinations without passing his house when she's not supposed to get w/in 500ft of it-- and she certainly shouldn't be stopping in front of the house & staring at his fiance. I told him to go to the Parish police, file a complaint of harassment & ask them to pass it on to the DA that the brat is deliberately antagonizing his fiance. Since the mother made threats & has violated the "stay away" order, I think they should file for a formal protective order & say that they are concerned that the brat & her mother plan to attack her if they find her home alone. She actually is afraid of that & has been having anxiety attacks over it.

 

[Floorist]

High of 78 here today. Ended up with 5.5 inches of rain yesterday.
Taking pictures of my wife's art projects for her foundation review. She likes the way I take pictures.
I took this one a few weeks ago.

 

[zannej]

It got up to 95 degrees here but it felt hotter. I took my brother to the casino in the CR-V just to get it running for a bit since it hasn't budged in awhile, got more gas in it, & he put in his paperwork to transfer to another kitchen. He loves the one he's at, but the other one is lower stress & has a cuisine that is more in his line of interest. He'll learn more Asian recipes there & the people from that kitchen have been wanting him to join them. He will still be able to pick up hours at the other kitchen since it's in the same building & employer. Our friend who started working there is doing well.

My best friend has a court date tomorrow with his ex because the useless hag filed for more child support even though he can't afford to pay her more, she refuses to work, he still pays most of the child's expenses on to of paying support, & he's letting the ex live in his trailer w/o rent. He said that if they award her more he'll either kick her out & sell the trailer or rent it to someone else or he'll start charging her rent. He has text messages from her saying she didn't really want child support payments from him, she just wanted him to cover the medical or something. I *think* he may even be able to get his daughter on his work insurance now. I wasn't exactly clear on all of it.

After stopping in to say "Hi" to him, we went home & napped. I then took my mother for her doctor's appointment but she was having trouble with her balance. All she's had to eat since Friday is chicken broth & gatorade because her stomach couldn't take anything else. She started to fall in the doorway but I caught her and held her up until she could regain her footing. I then helped her through the house & caught her again when she had trouble & got her walker for her to sit in. I should have brought it with us. When we got to the doctor's office I tried was helping her walk up the sidewalk to the office with her hanging on to my shoulders. She commented that I was moving all over the place, but she was the one moving side to side & swaying. Turned out she said her shoes were moving all over the place. She started to lose her balance & I tried to catch her but couldn't. I slowed her fall a bit but she fell on her side. I told her I'd get help & rushed inside- the staff weren't at the windows. One walked back & I said I needed help with my mother, the clerk said "She's getting a wheelchair!" Apparently, the other clerk saw my mother fall & ran to grab a wheelchair. She gasped so loud the doctor heard it and came running. I tried to pick my mother up on to her feet & almost got her there but she's taller than me & she couldn't get her legs under her right. The doctor then came out and helped her reposition her legs & told her to put her feet against his & wrap her arms around his neck while he lifted and for her to try to lift herself with her legs. She was worried he was going to hurt his back trying to lift her. He tried a few times & she just sort of bounced a little so I got behind her & lifted and once her butt was off the ground enough, I put my hands under her butt & lifted her & we both helped her in to the wheelchair. The doctor asked a couple questions & then told his nurse to take her to the ER (right across the street). She was still too bruised up form the last visit on Friday for them to take blood & her blood pressure was actually pretty good. Her leg wasn't hurting but it was a bit bruised. They brought a machine into the room to do x-rays of her knee & ankle (so she didn't have to get wheeled to another room). It looked fine. They said to put an ice pack on it but she didn't want to. I had wanted her to drink some chicken broth before we left but she declined & we were running late bc she takes a long time to get ready- plus she couldn't get her own shoes & socks on so I had to help her. I think I came out worse than she did from it bc my back really hates me now. We were in & out of the ER in under an hour. The nurse was from the doctor's office was supposed to come back for the wheelchair, but I had parked over there & decided to just wheel mom back over there in the chair. We got in to the doctor's office & the clerk ran to check something & came back & said Mom's insurance wouldn't cover her doctor's appointment and the ER visit in the same day. We said we'd reschedule for next week once she would have more time to recover & have the proper bloodwork done for it. She said she should have asked about that first & then said how she saw my mother fall & it freaked her out. She normally doesn't look out through the glass panes of the door but she happened to be looking when she fell & the Dr was just coming in from the back. My mother joked it was the shortest visit with the doctor she's ever had. I wheeled her to the truck, got her in, & brought the chair back inside. I stopped at the post office & popped in to Walmart to get an ice pack & some liquid breakfast things she requested. Since she didn't come with me I ended up getting the wrong kind but I can return some later & swap them out for the kind she likes. At least she has her appetite back somewhat. I just made her a bunch of the chicken broth & she wanted seconds.

My sister called & talked to us for a bit. She just got back from Disneyworld. Said they didn't get her luggage to her until the next afternoon after landing, the telephone in her room didn't work, and the mattress was extremely squeaky, loud, & uncomfortable. But the Disney resort came in & fixed the phone immediately after she informed them, swapped out the mattress, & comped them $200 worth of tickets or something for the misplaced luggage. She went to the new Star Wars attraction. She's currently packing & waiting to hear more back from her real estate agent (who sounds like an air head from what she described) and said the sellers wanted to stay there longer than originally agreed (I guess they either didn't have a place lined up yet or need more time to pack). They are trying to work something out where the sellers can sort of pay rent for however many days they stay past the sale date. The house sold within 2 days of being listed so I don't think the sellers were prepared for such a quick turnaround. My mother needs to send my sister some paperwork as well to finalize things before closing. I'll have to get on her about making sure she sends it tomorrow.

My sister wants to turn her current house into a rental & she's considering going through a HUD housing plan where the HUD thing would be responsible for all the maintenance & management of it. I'm not sure that is a good idea bc I've seen how bad some HUD houses are & how people who live in them don't care about not damaging things. She said the carpet needs to be replaced-- either with carpet or vinyl plank- and some of the baseboards need to be replaced bc they warped from cats peeing (she had a sick cat that managed to hit the baseboards when using the litterbox).

What do you guys think would cost her less in the long run? Carpet or LVP? The LVP I got has 20mil wear layer but has gone up in price significantly. It was something like $2.39 sqft when I got it but it's now over $3.69 sqft so it would be over $1k for 300sqft. I think she said she might even do 500sqft. And should she go with HUD or a property management company (that would charge her a fee or take a % of the rental)? She's in an HOA area as well so any tenants would have to pay those fees on top of rent.

 

[Floorist]

Biopsy was benign.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Biopsy was benign.

GOOD TO HEAR!!

 

[Floorist]

GOOD TO HEAR!!

And to celebrate, I went out and cut up a tree that came down in a storm last week. Yes, I am that stupid.

 

[havasu]

Great news friend, however cutting that tree is a weird way to celebrate. Wanna come over here and celebrate by painting my house as well?

 

[Jon]

I have a couple of large trees right beside our house which need a crane so the trees dont fall on the house if you still have the urge of cutting down trees. I dont know why people plant trees which grow to about 30 feet high right beside a house

 

[Floorist]

Beautiful house, Jon.

 

[Jon]

Needs a lot of work done on it as well, those large windows/sliding doors need replacing as they are history. When other house gets sold I will spend some money on this one. See those trees, Guess where the sewerage pipes go? Right underneath
This house doesnt have sea views but if I stand on the roof I can see the top of Rangitoto Island

 

[Floorist]

Quiet neighborhood?

 

[havasu]

If jon would cut that price in half, I may become his neighbor!