What Did We Get Ourselves Into?!?

Oy vey… It’s been one of those days, and a LONG one to boot. Why? We brought THIS home:

Do NOT be fooled by it’s appearance!!! Tis a dread, snarling beast with a foul temper and long sharp teeth!

I should have known when the other people at the adoption agency were all like:

LOL, If she could read, she MIGHT have a complex by now.

Seriously though, this little tornado was all over the house from one end to other for almost 5 hours straight!

You name it, she attacked and chased it. The poor octopus toy there never stood a chance. 😀 She was up and down both cat trees, frequently jumping from the top of the one that’s inside the house proper (the other is in the sun room).

She tried to jump on top of that book case also, LOL.

At 1:30am she finally settled down. It’s now 2:30 and she’s running about again.

She’s a cutie, but we’re going to have our hands full with little Trinity the Tortie here. She’s batted water out of her bowl all over the hardwood floors, and goes from “Pet me, NOW!” to “Now I’m going to bite and claw your hand or foot” in .0005 nanoseconds too.

Kidding aside, it’s apparent her foster home didn’t have the kind of accommodations (and toys) that’s she’ now enjoying. We’ll have to see how she gets along with our other cat Machi.

So far, it’s been interesting. When Trinity was first taken out of her carrier (at the adoption center) she ran into Machi’s and hid curled up next to her. Then when we took them both out, Trinity growled and tried to swipe at Machi (who is twice her size). Once we got them home, Machi hissed at Trinity, who was still in her own carrier. Since then, they’ve avoided each other. More like Machi has avoided her.

So yeah, the next few days will be interesting. Both in terms of seeing if this 14 week old wild child ever powers down, and if the two cats can get along.

Yet Another Quick Personal Update

Yes, I’ve been away yet again, but I’m back. 🙂

It’s been a hectic last week plus here. Initially, it was last minute holiday preparations and cooking two different holiday dinners (the things we do for family). The previously mentioned spider bite slowed me down just a little as well. More on the meals in a separate food post. 🙂

During the prep for the bigger, second dinner, my Microplane box grater decided to take a chunk out of my thumb instead of leaving it at the smoked gouda cheese

If you’ve never used this goodie, or the more well known Microplane graters:

I highly recommend them. They work amazingly well on anything from lemon skin (for zest) to coconut to thumbs. 👍🤨 Dark humor aside, they’re FAR superior to the typical grater.

After the dinners, presents and festivities, it’s been a combination of clean up and (mostly) what I can only assume is a reaction to the antibiotics for the spider bite; I’ve been dead on my feet for days. Worst case of fatigue I can ever remember. Yesterday, I was only awake for 7 hours or so and I was dead on my feet the entire time.

I’d almost attribute it to the Onmicron variant (which is supposed to cause severe fatigue), but I’ve felt fine otherwise. Even the spider bite is healing nicely. So with no other suspects or symptoms, the now finished off antibiotics seem the most logical suspect.

Despite it all, I’ve managed to keep the new positive outlook. Can’t say I’ve been perfect. Last minute grocery shopping certainly worked my last good nerve, lol. I’m sure hoping that I’m done with the fatigue now as well. I’m managing to keep an overall positive attitude about everything though. 🙂

Presents and meals you ask? Next Time. 😉 Here’s a hint though:

Christmas Music: Last Round

A complete mash up here of stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere or got left out. After honeymooning in Hawaii, I **HAVE** to start with:

Mele Kalikimaka – Bing Crosby

And living down South now, there’s this:

Christmas in Dixie – Alabama

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Pentatonix

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams

Frosty the Snowman – The Beach Boys

There’s enough good Christmas music out there that I could do this all day, BUT we’ve all got food, family and gifts to deal with, so that will have to do. 🙂

Christmas Music: Classics

If we’re doing classics, nobody can touch Bing Crosby’s version of White Christmas:

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of snow, but I love the song. 🙂

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

I think Gene Autry did the original version. Trivia: Rudolph was created by a copywriter for Montgomery Wards department store as a promotional gimmick. Some sources report the store chain offered / was trying to sell a toy.

Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song

The old guard does a fabulous job with some songs. Penatonix is a world class group too though:

I could probably do quite a few more here, BUT I try to keep my posts manageable for followers. Ergo, we’ll leave it at that.

Christmas Music: Rocking It

We will pick things up a little to start out our Christmas Day music list. Something to wake you up and get you going so that big dinner is actually ready on time, or you’re out the door to go to that big family dinner on time.

Lincoln Brewster: The Little Drummer Boy

This was, I believe, the 2015 Christmas Eve service at Bayside Church in Granite Bay. On top of Lincoln’s musical career, he’s a music director and pastor there.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Christmas Eve / Sarajevo (Timeless Version)

A piece if music that speaks for itself. I’ve been to 4 or 5 TSO Christmas concerts and they never disappoint.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Carol of the Bells 2018

This was actually the last TSO concert series I attended, back in Sacramento. Fabulous show.

Lincoln Brewster – Hark the Herald Angels Sing:

AND… *IF* you’re feeling brave… I give you Twisted Sister’s version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful. You won’t be hearing things either… “We’re Not Gonna Take It” uses an up tempo melody line from “Come All Ye Faithful”

Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Last post for today. 🙂 It’s already Christmas on the other side of the international date line though, so it seems appropriate to send general well wishes now.

Merry Christmas to all, and wishes for a fabulous time if you celebrate some other holiday. 🙂

Christmas Music: A Joanne Bonus :D

Yeah, I know… But you try finding stuff poking fun at Kiwis up here. Ever since Paul Hogan…

Nuff Said. 😀

Saturday Morning Fun: Christmas Edition

Another blog subject I’ve fallen behind on. I’m bending the rules for it with Christmas falling on a Saturday this year. Today’s edition is the list of shows that are the “must watch” shows for my Christmas to feel complete. Most of them are silly, and truth be known I like most of the old animated Christmas specials. These (again) are the “must watch” ones however.

1 The Original Die Hard

I say it every year; it’s not Christmas till I see Hans Greuber fall off of Nakatomi Plaza. 😀

OK, that’s a little grim I know, BUT I love starting the holiday off seeing the bad guy get theirs. 🙂

2 The Muppet Christmas Carol

OK, let’s be real. There’s several spectacular versions of “A Christmas Carol” out there. The one with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge is one such example. This version is a little lighter and more fun though while still getting the message through.

3 A Charlie Brown Christmas

4 Batman The Animated Series: Christmas with the Joker

Classic Mark Hamill voice acted Joker. I also love seeing Batman going from he’s never watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” because he couldn’t get past the title, to admitting at the end that he liked it, AND that maybe life ain’t so bad after all. 🙂 Note that’s actually Charles Manson that Joker exchanges salutes with before climbing up the Christmas tree.

5 A Christmas Story

Can it REALLY be Christmas without this? TBS sure doesn’t think so, LOL.

And finally, THE classic. No Christmas is complete without:

Honorable Mention: How The Grinch Stole Christmas

The original, not that live action nonsense

Christmas Music: The Fun Stuff

I’m putting Friday Night 80s on a brief hold for some Christmas music. I’d intended to do a longer series of these posts like some other blogs have, but the whole spider drama kept me sidetracked. I’ll make a handful of these posts today and tomorrow in between all the cooking / prep and cleaning I have to do. 🙂

So we’re going to start with the silly and fun stuff first. We’ll get to classics and religious Christmas songs a little later.

We start with one that only the SoCal beach hot rodder culture could have come up with:

This secret now revealed; I’m a huge Beach Boys fan 🙂

And no list of this type would be complete without the infamous Mr Grinch song:

Nobody does it better than the original

Next stop; The Muppet Christmas Carol. There are several good songs to choose here. I was tempted to pick the Scrooge song from the beginning, but I want to keep things positive and upbeat, so…

And last for this post, we’re going to pay Snoopy a visit. This is another one you Millennial kids probably never have heard. 🙂

Follow Up: Following Evidence

Yes, time for a short update to yesterday’s post on Following the Evidence.

Two things happened today. First, I went down to the “new” house and did some more digging in preparation for meeting with a different attorney. My suspicions were confirmed about the door that the seller added in:

My picture was crooked, BUT you can see the bubble in the center shows that the threshold for the door IS level. BUT… when you put it on the floor near the threshold:

We’ve got some seriously uneven floor there. The ONLY way to get that door assembly level was to compensate for the uneven floor / foundation. Ergo, the seller HAD TO know that the house is sinking.

Side note; that MAY be asbestos flooring that was underneath the carpet also. Yet another thing to have checked.

We bought a tripod to put our laser level on, and assuming all was done correctly, I got some interesting readings from the various rooms of the house. The den is by far the worst area for foundation issues. There are other problem areas however. The other end of the house SEEMS to have the front corner rising and the back corner sinking. Both by just an inch or so. The entire center 1/3 of the house seems to be pretty level.

Notice I’m hedging my words here a little. The reason being is that I re-checked the wall which was in yesterday’s post, and this time it read as level. My best guess for the difference in readings is that yesterday the laser MAY have had it’s switch stuck in the ‘lock’ position, which would have kept it from self leveling.

I can’t help but wonder though, if that whole portion of the house is sinking, why is it only showing on two walls running North – South and NOT on the East – West running wall that connects to both of them? The sinking extends beyond the East-West wall by at least 15 feet, so something should be showing with it as well.

And THEN There Was The Lawyer:

Without going into a ton of particulars, this lawyer was a good deal more optimistic regarding our chances. There couldn’t be any commitments just yet, as we’d forgotten our paperwork, and he said he’d want to have a contractor that he uses look at the house to determine what he can offer expert testimony on.

So, what the case is going to come down to is what can shown that the seller at least SHOULD have had reasonable knowledge of, and therefore an obligation to disclose.

He MIGHT be able to play dumb about the termites for example. They were inside the wall. HOWEVER, a neighbor says he was warned about termites, and the seller had the carpeting up to do work, so an argument could be made that he might have seen a crack in the slab and termites.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the side door and the windows. I’ve already proven in this post that he had to make corrections for the foundation sinking in order to install those doors and windows correctly.

Things are also looking pretty good for building a case against the realtors and the inspectors as well.

Reality is we’re not going to know anything until Monday on the paperwork end of things. I’m delivering that in the morning. Regarding the physical condition of the house, that won’t be until Friday.

So, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. The primary question is what kind of light.