February Sucks

I'm in a lousy mood today. I'm hoping that blogging will lift my mood somewhat. But I have to get schooling done today, I've been sick lately and missed some, so I can't afford to miss today. So I'll type fast.

Yes, I have strep throat again. I had a sore throat all December, but because I was simultaneously having sinus problems, I just thought it was a sore throat related to that. Finally after like, the whole month, my midwife suggested I get it looked at. Some local clinic doctor took one look and dismissed it as a run of the mill sore throat, but took a swab anyway. A whole week later (cause it was over the New year holiday) I get a call....."Mrs. Kent, your throat culture came back positive for strep throat. Have you started antibiotics for that?".

Um, yes, because I would know exactly what antibiotic to prescribe for myself AND I could just waltz into a drug store and order it. What kind of lame brain question was that?

So, unhappily I started antibiotics for it. A five day power pill type antibiotic. After it was done, I felt better, but not all the way. So for another 6 weeks I ignored the sore throat and told myself it was just the dry winter weather and remaining sinus problems. Finally last Friday, the pain started getting worse so I went back to the same clinic, where a different doctor looked at my throat, declared it looked fine, but he would do a swab just to be sure. Of course, on Monday, I got a call that it was positive. More antibiotics. I've picked up some probiotics and am still taking grapefruit seed extract to combat it. This kills me. My insurance will pay for my prescription of a drug that I need to kill off my infection, but at the same time cause an imbalance in my system that could cause another infection. So I have to purchase excess remedies to combat this, all which cost me twice as much as the antibiotics, yet the insurance company wouldn't think of paying for that. How messed.

And how messed is PC bank? I am SO sick of them and I don't even bank with them. I tried them for a year a few years ago, just to save on the monthly fees but I ended screwing up my finances so many times because of how inconvenient they are, that I ended up paying fines that were vastly more expensive then the monthly fees from TD. I should have learned my lesson. But for reasons I won't get into--mostly financially based ones (as in, lack of money) I was forced to use my old PC account for a few things the last number of weeks and again, screwed up and was slapped with brutal charges for my mistakes. I've now paid to them twice the amount in fees that I would have paid to fix the problem I had in the first place that cause me to use them. I know that's kind of screwy sounding, but I don't want to get into details, so you'll have to try and muddle through that one.

My arm hurts because I had to get my RH shot yesterday because I'm a negative person. I mean, I have a negative blood type. On top of cold/strep symptoms this week, I've been feeling particularly big and heavy. Very uncomfortable. I wondered if perhaps she had shifted her position. Sure enough, at my midwife appointment, her head is now down. Which is why I feel like I can barely sit. I hope I'm not causing brain damage.

I had another dream last night. I won't get into it, but the gist was that I was at a highschool reunion. Strangely, it was at someones huge, grand house with a pool and everything. And Amanda Duern (now not Duern) was singing at the top of her lungs. She sounded pretty good.

And now for some exciting, positive news. Tomorrow we start redoing our bathroom. Sometime last year (and forgive me if I've blogged this---baby/strep throat brain) I announced to James that there was NO WAY my midwives were going to be coming into this house, and using our bathroom in the state it was in. Furthermore, there was NO WAY I was bringing my brand new baby into that bathtub for her first bath (a right-after-birth tradition) looking as disgusting as it was.
We knew that the bathroom wasn't the newest when we moved in. It was obvious that the fixtures and nearly everything in it was as old as the house---about 30 years. What we didn't know was how much had been covered up. The old people had painted....but likely hadn't thoroughly cleaned all the mildew or used the proper mildew resistant bathroom paint. So it wasn't long until we had a huge mildew problem--despite copious fan use. And the tub is slanted. It's an old metal tub, starting to rust in various spots, and it's not level, leaning down towards you if you're standing in front of it. Which means that during showers, water runs down it and off onto the floor. We tried numerous little things to fix this, all in vain. So slowly the wall next to the tub started to break down and destroy itself. And the linoleum beside the tub slowly discoloured and stained, indicating that the subfloor underneath was damaged. Then the taps started giving us a hard time, constantly leaking because of a botched repair someone before us tried to do. Then the sink, also metal, began to rust around the edges and drain. The sink taps became loose and wiggle everytime you turn them on or off. Many little things developed that made it into an unattractive and annoying bathroom. Plus, if we didn't fix some of the things, they would continue to rot until we had a huge, expensive mess on our hands. Something had to be done.

Problem A was no money. Even just to fix the things that were broken/destroyed would be way beyond what we could afford. Which was nothing.

Well, for reasons I won't get into, problem A suddenly had a solution. But it was a solution that I still felt meant that we would need to do this bathroom on the lowest possible budget. Habitat for Humanity, here we come.

I'd heard of lots of people donating things to Habitat---you see it on Makeover all the time. But I hadn't heard so much about people going and using things from Habitat. Still, we looked up the locations and found there were three within reasonable driving range. The first one we went to was right here in Hamilton.

We really lucked out there and found brand-new (donated demos) taps for both tub and sink for just over a hundred bucks. Then at the Burlington one, we bought a sink and toilet for 70$.

The last coup was when I checked back at the Hamilton one, still looking for a vanity. They had just gotten in a beautiful, brand new (but still discounted, of course) vanity that normally runs close to a thousand bucks at Home Depot. Complete with a matching framed mirror, we picked it up for 400$. It now sits in my living room and I cast many admiring gazes at it.

Oh, and my BIL is bringing us a tub for free. Perk of working for a home building company.

So after a trip to Home Depot the other night to pick up things you can't buy at Habitat (linoleum, a tub surround, paint, etc.) we are basically ready to start the attack. Tomorrow James stays home from work, my dad takes a day off and comes over, I take the kids to my parents, and they will take a sledgehammer to our bathroom. Ooooh, I should get some before pics now!!
My brother will arrive tomorrow night, my BIL will arrive the same time or the next morning, and hopefully the four of them will have this project done by the end of Family Day. How exciting!!!!

And now Jairus is hollering, so I must go.