Things Fall Apart
24/12/2009 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIzzie is feeling seriously psychotic. December has been a bit of a disaster but this week has well and truly been the icing on the cake
It really seems that high expectations are almost a guarantee for gloom and doom and unending misery
There was every reason to have particularly high expectations for this month. Firstly Christmas is on a Friday which is one of the two days the serpent is not working. Next year will be back to four or so years in a row of working - assuming Izzie is too lazy to get a more civilized and respectable job
It was also the first year of not being broke and counting the pennies. Having froggie tenants has made a huge difference. Did increase the mortgage repayments to take advantage of this new source of income but still it is a nice piece of icing on the cake
So no work and no money worries - the only thing left to ruin the fun is the weather. We did have a couple of stinking 37 plus days but that is a lot lot less than usual and there's not been any seriously disgusting hot, horrid and humid days. Only needed to have the fan on all night twice in the whole month which is a record
But this was all before adding a certain blond blue eyed boss bitch to the mix
It's not really correct to say that she singlehandedly ruined Izzie's December - more correct to say that we let her do it.
It's kind of like 2001 all over again - an irrational sense of serpent security being threatened. And it really is irrational. Been making serious progress on the financial independence front. Now earning 20% of income from non work sources and taking big chunks out of the mortgage. Even managed to set up an emergency slush fund on the credit card - which seems somehow to be tempting fate. It's been in the black for most of the year but something always seems to turn up to bring the balance back to zero. It used to be dentists but now it's plumbers (and the odd temptation from Amazon)
In the event of being sick or unemployed - could drop house repayments from 850 per fortnight right down to 200 and still be above the minimum required. Needless to say - that is based on the full 25 year term of which nearly 12 have gone so far. So much for those grand hopes of having it paid off in 10 years. But 15 is definitely doable
The Izzie also has a garden for growing herbs and vegies and while not large enough to be completely self sufficient, with a bit of effort could get up to 60%
Then there's those pretty little photovoltaic cells on the roof which means only one electricity bill a year - just after winter. During the shortest days, they still produce more electricity than consumed - even with the two frogs in the house but not enough to cover the service charges
So being perfectly reasonable and rational - the bitch is not the existential threat that other blond bitch bosses in the past have been. But since when are the inner creatures ever rational?
Ever since borrowing that library book about decluttering and the unforgiveable sin of not only entering but completing nanowrimo - the evil beasts are on one serious sabotage mission
In spite of being aware that murderous rage and hatred is more toxic to the serpent than to her, still unable to turn it off or direct it into something more useful. Nanowrimo 2010 is still a long long way away
But this week it was not her and the aura of malevolent incompetence that was the problem but once again unreasonable expectations and grand plans
Been neglecting the 101 list lately and this month was time to make up for that - having just over 60 days left at this stage.
Was going to bring the last Potter book along to the summer solstice picnics on Monday and Tuesday. It's nice to pick special places to start reading a book - even one disappointing as that one. It did start well so it deserved the honour of a pretty location
Did bring it on the Monday but ended up getting all freaky so never did peek. Tuesday's plans got scrapped due to the drama with the leaking hot water pipe
Had grand plans of also packing the baby laptop and chatting with witchy friends in the Cottesloe Dome Cafe before pottering down to the beach for sunset. They ended up down the drain
Finally decided that today would have to be the day - at the usual spot in the gardens of the old lunatic asylum. That would be followed by dropping in to First Choice liquor store to get a bottle of firewhiskey for Uncle Vernon. When it comes to Christmas, he is a nightmare to go shopping for.
Was shocked and surprised that the plumbers not only turned up on time but did not try any drama about not having spare parts and stuff and having to come back on Saturday or something
Another few days without a drink would be a disaster for the weeds out the back
It took them 3 hours to smash their way to the leaking beast and to repair it. As the Izzie suspected, the gas hot water heater was the worse for wear after this ordeal. Silly serpent should have turned off the gas straight away once realizing what the problem was. While turning off the water did have the effect of turning off the flames, problem was that turning it on again started them on full bore and most likely on an empty tank due to the contents leaking all the time
The pilot light goes on and stays on but once the knob is switched to the ignition position, it goes off. So now there's no leak but also no hot water
Did without for 18 months or so after returning from Europe in 2006. It must be some safety switch that turned the thing off. Was too embarrassed to ask Uncle Vernon and was so afraid of blowing up the house. Eventually got over the awfulizing and worked it out in the end.
But this time it did not work and having froggies in the house means that going without hot water for longer than a week or so is not an option. But it's still more civilized than having to go to the mains tap every time you want water
But the thing that really drove the Izzie crazy was the phone deciding to go on the blink at the same time as the hot water. It makes snap crackle and pop noises and then constantly informs us that the number dialed is the wrong one or lets you ring but then cuts off once some one answers
It took almost an hour to ring the union on Tuesday and Izzie at the end of it was murderous and miserable beyond belief.
But it did not stop spammers from ringing trying to sell dodgy insulation while claiming "I'm from the Federal Government and I am here to help"
The plumbers took the best part of 3 hours. After they left just after 12pm and the Izzie cleaned up and then finally had a long awaited shower, there was just no point in going Fremantle. No fix of Juicy Beetroot goodness and no visits to First Choice booze shop
Was pleasantly surprised at the low level of damage done. Not to the house but to the serpent wallet. A big chunk of the back doorstep is gone and about 6 or 7 bricks from the wall hiding the offending pipe but the cost was actually less than the recent replacement of the bathroom tap. This took a lot longer and was a lot more work
So once more the emergency fund stash has been zapped. And this silly brain dead serpent - it was the froggies who mentioned house insurance. Had never even considered claiming but leaking taps and pipes must surely count as claimable
Will be interesting to see what obstacles the buggers put in the way when handing out rather than snatching sacks of silver sickles
But now the phone has died and this very evening also the tatty old serpent wrist watch. All at once. And of course just before Christmas when it's going to be Tuesday before we can even begin to go searching for a new one. Feeling so so lost without it
The phone is not a problem - the ma and pa have countless old handsets lying around in the garage along with lots of other assorted junk.
Finally calming down after all the craziness. Here's hoping that all the grand plans for New Year's Eve do not end up meeting a similar fate as the summer solstice picnic
It would be a bad omen indeed for the new decade
It really seems that high expectations are almost a guarantee for gloom and doom and unending misery
There was every reason to have particularly high expectations for this month. Firstly Christmas is on a Friday which is one of the two days the serpent is not working. Next year will be back to four or so years in a row of working - assuming Izzie is too lazy to get a more civilized and respectable job
It was also the first year of not being broke and counting the pennies. Having froggie tenants has made a huge difference. Did increase the mortgage repayments to take advantage of this new source of income but still it is a nice piece of icing on the cake
So no work and no money worries - the only thing left to ruin the fun is the weather. We did have a couple of stinking 37 plus days but that is a lot lot less than usual and there's not been any seriously disgusting hot, horrid and humid days. Only needed to have the fan on all night twice in the whole month which is a record
But this was all before adding a certain blond blue eyed boss bitch to the mix
It's not really correct to say that she singlehandedly ruined Izzie's December - more correct to say that we let her do it.
It's kind of like 2001 all over again - an irrational sense of serpent security being threatened. And it really is irrational. Been making serious progress on the financial independence front. Now earning 20% of income from non work sources and taking big chunks out of the mortgage. Even managed to set up an emergency slush fund on the credit card - which seems somehow to be tempting fate. It's been in the black for most of the year but something always seems to turn up to bring the balance back to zero. It used to be dentists but now it's plumbers (and the odd temptation from Amazon)
In the event of being sick or unemployed - could drop house repayments from 850 per fortnight right down to 200 and still be above the minimum required. Needless to say - that is based on the full 25 year term of which nearly 12 have gone so far. So much for those grand hopes of having it paid off in 10 years. But 15 is definitely doable
The Izzie also has a garden for growing herbs and vegies and while not large enough to be completely self sufficient, with a bit of effort could get up to 60%
Then there's those pretty little photovoltaic cells on the roof which means only one electricity bill a year - just after winter. During the shortest days, they still produce more electricity than consumed - even with the two frogs in the house but not enough to cover the service charges
So being perfectly reasonable and rational - the bitch is not the existential threat that other blond bitch bosses in the past have been. But since when are the inner creatures ever rational?
Ever since borrowing that library book about decluttering and the unforgiveable sin of not only entering but completing nanowrimo - the evil beasts are on one serious sabotage mission
In spite of being aware that murderous rage and hatred is more toxic to the serpent than to her, still unable to turn it off or direct it into something more useful. Nanowrimo 2010 is still a long long way away
But this week it was not her and the aura of malevolent incompetence that was the problem but once again unreasonable expectations and grand plans
Been neglecting the 101 list lately and this month was time to make up for that - having just over 60 days left at this stage.
Was going to bring the last Potter book along to the summer solstice picnics on Monday and Tuesday. It's nice to pick special places to start reading a book - even one disappointing as that one. It did start well so it deserved the honour of a pretty location
Did bring it on the Monday but ended up getting all freaky so never did peek. Tuesday's plans got scrapped due to the drama with the leaking hot water pipe
Had grand plans of also packing the baby laptop and chatting with witchy friends in the Cottesloe Dome Cafe before pottering down to the beach for sunset. They ended up down the drain
Finally decided that today would have to be the day - at the usual spot in the gardens of the old lunatic asylum. That would be followed by dropping in to First Choice liquor store to get a bottle of firewhiskey for Uncle Vernon. When it comes to Christmas, he is a nightmare to go shopping for.
Was shocked and surprised that the plumbers not only turned up on time but did not try any drama about not having spare parts and stuff and having to come back on Saturday or something
Another few days without a drink would be a disaster for the weeds out the back
It took them 3 hours to smash their way to the leaking beast and to repair it. As the Izzie suspected, the gas hot water heater was the worse for wear after this ordeal. Silly serpent should have turned off the gas straight away once realizing what the problem was. While turning off the water did have the effect of turning off the flames, problem was that turning it on again started them on full bore and most likely on an empty tank due to the contents leaking all the time
The pilot light goes on and stays on but once the knob is switched to the ignition position, it goes off. So now there's no leak but also no hot water
Did without for 18 months or so after returning from Europe in 2006. It must be some safety switch that turned the thing off. Was too embarrassed to ask Uncle Vernon and was so afraid of blowing up the house. Eventually got over the awfulizing and worked it out in the end.
But this time it did not work and having froggies in the house means that going without hot water for longer than a week or so is not an option. But it's still more civilized than having to go to the mains tap every time you want water
But the thing that really drove the Izzie crazy was the phone deciding to go on the blink at the same time as the hot water. It makes snap crackle and pop noises and then constantly informs us that the number dialed is the wrong one or lets you ring but then cuts off once some one answers
It took almost an hour to ring the union on Tuesday and Izzie at the end of it was murderous and miserable beyond belief.
But it did not stop spammers from ringing trying to sell dodgy insulation while claiming "I'm from the Federal Government and I am here to help"
The plumbers took the best part of 3 hours. After they left just after 12pm and the Izzie cleaned up and then finally had a long awaited shower, there was just no point in going Fremantle. No fix of Juicy Beetroot goodness and no visits to First Choice booze shop
Was pleasantly surprised at the low level of damage done. Not to the house but to the serpent wallet. A big chunk of the back doorstep is gone and about 6 or 7 bricks from the wall hiding the offending pipe but the cost was actually less than the recent replacement of the bathroom tap. This took a lot longer and was a lot more work
So once more the emergency fund stash has been zapped. And this silly brain dead serpent - it was the froggies who mentioned house insurance. Had never even considered claiming but leaking taps and pipes must surely count as claimable
Will be interesting to see what obstacles the buggers put in the way when handing out rather than snatching sacks of silver sickles
But now the phone has died and this very evening also the tatty old serpent wrist watch. All at once. And of course just before Christmas when it's going to be Tuesday before we can even begin to go searching for a new one. Feeling so so lost without it
The phone is not a problem - the ma and pa have countless old handsets lying around in the garage along with lots of other assorted junk.
Finally calming down after all the craziness. Here's hoping that all the grand plans for New Year's Eve do not end up meeting a similar fate as the summer solstice picnic
It would be a bad omen indeed for the new decade
