I had to skip the gym yesterday after work so I could go home to wait for two different people. I knew the first was coming to pick up the four blowers and dehumidifier Unique Restoration had left over the weekend. I THOUGHT the second was going to put down new padding and relay the carpet, but Diane, who was down there an awfully long time, was merely there to figure out how much to bill our insurance company. She informed me that we had to make further arrangements for the padding/carpeting through our insurer!

This distressed me. It meant more waiting around, more annoyance, more tension for Dan, who can't seem to tolerate any problems these days. Then Dan called to tell me that he received a message from our insurer, who was under the impression that ALL our carpet had been torn up and we were getting completely new carpeting! Now I'm wondering--is Unique Restoration going to try to screw Allstate out of more than they deserve? Make a false claim for work they didn't do? I tried to call our "guy", but he didn't get back to me, so now we're in limbo. Maybe I should have just gone for all new carpeting, but Dan was freaking out at the thought of moving all his stereo and gaming equipment, so we opted instead for padding to replace the wet stuff. Why does everything have to be such a mess, so much more complicated than necessary?

Dan's bringing home pizza tonight--and Stan, the guy whose article I'm editing. They're stopping first at Nassau County Medical Center to drop off comics we spent $50 on at a temple auction months ago and which we couldn't sell for shit. So we're donating them to sick kids instead. When Brad was born, I was very well treated at that hospital, which is having its share of financial and personnel woes now, so I have no problem giving these comics to the sick kids there. I just wish I didn't have to deal with Stan. I told Dan I had a bad feeling that I was going to be cursing him for hooking me up with Stan, but we shall see.

The two chairs we bought at Staples keep losing screws. We suspect they're lemons, and I want to take the damn things back to them. Dan is sure they won't take them back without the boxes they came in, but I doubt that will be a problem. If they give us any difficulty, we'll ram the defective chairs up their asses.

Dr. Jacob called yesterday; she reviewed Saturday's blood work and told me to double up my thyroid medication. She also saw Dan last night; his thyroid is the opposite of mine--too active. She referred him to the endocrinologist, so he'll most likely be put back on medication, too.

I went to another building for a flu shot today. I wish Brad could get a flu shot at work, too. He needs one, but when is he supposed to get one, with the long hours he's working? He got another tutoring job, too, and will be able to make a couple of hundred bucks off the books. I sure wish I had something like that to sell! It pays better than writing porn.

I'm about done here. Hope you're enjoying your pre-Christmas shopping and festivities!

Love, Robin

Where are we? Friday, a couple of guys came to our house from Unique Restoration, a company hired by our insurance company to start the process of bringing our flooded basement back to normal.

These two men were all set to rip up all the carpeting downstairs. I had explained to the insurance company that the carpeting was indoor-outdoor and didn't need replacement; my concern was the padding underneath.

Dan had spent much of the day Friday downstairs in the damp, smelly basement, vacuuming up water with our wet-vac. He wasn't feeling well all weekend as a result. He's allergic to mold and mildew, and the dampness flared up his allergies and got him all stuffy and headachey.

Dan doesn't deal well with crises. Neither do I, but my feeling is, as long as no one is dead, everything is fixable. It's a pain in the ass, sure--I had to demand to speak to the guys' supervisor and tell him NOT to have his workers pull up all the carpet, that I just wanted the drenched padding removed and replaced. After I explained, everything was fine. Before this, by the way, I, overwhelmed with dizziness and nausea, threw up in our garbage can. I felt fine after that, but something was definitely fucked up with me. I don't usually vomit without being sick in some way.

The workers placed four blowers and one industrial strength dehumidifier in the basement for the entire weekend. Dan was very nervous about having all that stuff running when we weren't home, and insisted on unplugging all the blowers while we were working Friday. They're coming to pick them up today after I get home from work, and I THINK they're also going to replace the padding and put the carpeting back where it belongs. I hope so. I want everything to return to normal as soon as possible.

Dan worked Saturday. I went first to the gym and then to HIP for a repeat thyroid blood test. I went at 11:15 and it wasn't crowded, which was great. Dan got out of work earlier than he expected, so we went to TGIFriday's for a late lunch. Then we both fell asleep with the dogs up in our bedroom (awwww!). He only slept for an hour or so, but I slept for over three and was angry with myself, as usual, for sleeping my weekend away.

Dan, Brad, Mike and I went to the diner for dinner last night. I was annoyed because we spent most of the day home waiting for Dan's co-worker, Stan, to call. When he finally called, he said he couldn't get the car he was hoping to borrow and couldn't meet with me. I'm supposed to edit an op-ed piece he's writing in hopes of getting published the New York Daily News, but I suspect I've made a mistake in agreeing to work with him. We've been trying to get together for days, and every time I speak to him on the phone, he drones on and on. Stan, a security guard, writes about the Arabs and Israel, heavy political stuff I know little about. I have a feeling this is going to be more aggravation than it's worth. We haven't settled on a price yet, either, but I already feel he owes me for wasting time I can never get back. Now we're supposed to do this tomorrow evening, and I'm not looking forward to it. Dan says some of the gals in their building complain Stan stinks--even MORE to look forward to!

We did something different Saturday night. Mike, Dan and I went to a local temple for some weird auction. The ad said to bring a wrapped gift, so I quickly grabbed something from the gift drawer in the former record room. There were 28 people there, and all gifts were placed on the table. We chose numbers from a basket. Dan and I ended up with #12, Mike with #26. The first person went up, selected a gift from the table and opened it in front of everyone. #2 did the same. If he or she didn't like their gift, they had the right to swap it for #1's present. #3 could then trade with either #1 or #2. The person in the best position, of course, was #28, who had the choice of EVERYONE'S present. The big gift of the night was a $20 gift certificate to Best Buy; everyone, including me, stole that at one time. Mike ended up with a DVD of KING KONG (he stole it and was delighted), while Dan and I ended up with this Grandmother's Clock--you put 12 pictures on all the numbers and can even record something on the hour. We would have preferred the Best Buy gift certificate, but didn't have the right number for that. It really was a lot of fun, with a bunch of nice people. We were asked to join their conservative temple (we said no), invited to their New Year's Eve party (I'd like to go) and made to feel really welcome. All the guys except Dan and Mike were wearing yarmulkes.

On the way home, Dan actually suggested we join the temple, for the social interaction, but I reminded him that we'd be expected to come to temple services, too, and I didn't think he'd like that, especially since I believe they're all in Hebrew. Perhaps we could join the reform temple instead? I was really surprised Dan asked; he's never shown interest in joining a temple before.

Let's hope the basement is put completely back to rights again tonight. Oh, did I mention that our oil company called Friday? They would like to "help out" with the cost of cleaning up the flood. I guess they realized they're responsible for it after all! I didn't mention that we'd already called the insurance company, but even so, there will be a deductible, and the oil company could pay that. On the other hand, perhaps they should pay ALL the damages, given that their screw-up/negligence was responsible in the first place? Stay tuned!

Love, Robin

Our warm weather is going bye-bye in the form of intense wind and downpour. Tomorrow, December 2, will be more winterlike. It could have stayed away forever, as far as I'm concerned.

Last night, our insurance company sent over Unique Restoration, a company that was supposed to check out our soaking wet carpeting. The oil company finally sent over a guy to fix the humidifier; the float was stuck, apparently, which caused our flood.

I was not feeling well, very dizzy and nauseous. Bugsy was outside barking at the top of his little lungs. Snaps had gotten into the house and was getting in everyone's way. Right around the time these two guys (who barely spoke English) were informing Dan that they'd been ordered by their boss to pull up ALL our basement carpeting, I was throwing up into our kitchen garbage pail. I felt better enough after that to insist on talking to their supervisor myself. I explained that the carpet was indoor-outdoor and just needed a good drying; the padding underneath needed to be removed and replaced!

So, about a third of the sopping carpeting is now pulled back, there are huge dryers and one giant dehumidifier pulling the moisture out of both the finished and unfinished parts of the basement.

And yes, I did call our oil company right after getting home last night; I firmly, without yelling, told the manager there that I felt they owed us something for putting us through this shit, keeping my husband from going to work, wrecking the calmness of our home. The guy tried to tell me that even though the float that failed was put in by their technician 13 days ago, the fact that it stuck isn't their fault, so they don't owe us anything. I insisted they did, and ordered the guy to get back to me after speaking to the tech who installed the float assembly two weeks ago and the one who came to fix it yesterday.

I got a message on my home answering machine from Diane that they're ready to talk to me about this. I haven't called back because I want to return her call from home. It's looking like I'm going to have to work overtime tonight, though, so I might have to call her back from here. I really don't want to stay tonight! John's cesspool crapped out and he's probably going to have to leave early to meet the repair guys, which means overtime for me--which I don't really want!

So now we're going to need to have the padding replaced, the carpeting put back where it belongs and our house brought back to rights. Dan was such a pain in the ass about it all, but I think it was made worse because I just wasn't feeling well. I have no idea what caused my vomiting, but I felt a lot better once I did it, and didn't do it again.

I'm tired.

Love, Robin

This morning, my husband mentioned seeing water in the carpeted, finished part of our basement. Alarm bells went off in my head. "Check the water heater," I said. When Dan opened the door between the finished and unfinished part of the basement, he encountered a flood--the humidifier on our burner, which had been "fixed" a couple of weeks ago, was spewing water on the cement floor. The carpet was soaked!

I'm no dummy; when we had carpeting put down in the basement, we ordered the indoor-outdoor variety. Potential floods--from the washer, monsoon outside, or an incompetently installed humidifier--can happen at any time. However, we also wanted it to be comfortable, so we had padding installed underneath. The question now is, are we in for mold and mildew?

Dan wanted me to wait home for the repair guy, but with Connie out, that was impossible, so he had to remain home. He fretted about what he was going to do with the dogs, how this was going to mess up his time for the week, etc., but what could we do? Someone had to stay home, it had to be him, and complaining and worrying about it really didn't change anything.

The guy showed up, unstuck the stuck float valve (which they had installed, by the way), and pronounced it fixed. I figured Dan would call, demand the manager and get us free oil for the winter, but he just meekly accepted when the guy said they aren't responsible for any damage that happened or Dan having to stay home from work--nothing!

I think my husband's been replaced by a pod person, because the real Dan would NEVER allow such a travesty to occur! We have a flood in our basement, possible damage to the burner itself, a soaking wet carpet, and they claim no responsibility--after they apparently didn't properly install the float, or installed a faulty one? No, folks, I refuse to put up with that bullshit, and when I get home, I'm getting on the phone with the manager at Perillo and lighting a very painful fire under his ass. I'll start out nice, but if I get any resistance, Mrs. Nice Gal will disappear under a barrage of the nastiest diatribe EVER!

Take a breath, Robin. It's been so hard being stuck here all day, wishing I'd been able to take the day off, worrying, angry, feeling that impotence you feel when you have no control over a situation. The weather, which has been unseasonably warm in recent weeks, is going to take a turn for much colder, so I can't afford to alienate my oil company, or fire them--but don't they owe us something for this inconvenience?

Dan called our insurance company, too, but I don't know how much they're going to be willing to do for us. We have $250 deductible, so I'm not really expecting much from them, but who knows? I also have my doubts about that float. If it got stuck before, what's to stop it from getting stuck again? Dan wants to just turn it off and stop using it, since it's been such a pain in our ass for so long, but forced hot air heating is very dry, and having humidifiers in the house itself is another pain in the ass of a different variety.

Home ownership is a wonderful thing, but not when something like this happens. Then it's just, you guessed it--a pain in the ass!

Love, Robin

PS - I'm a Sagittarian, a fire sign, and I'm ALWAYS having troubles with water. Isn't that weird?

With Connie on vacation, I've been working hard, mostly entering her busywork into the computer. She doesn't give me access to the important stuff, nope, just the trash that she insists on keeping. I'll wager no one looks at this crap that she lovingly types, and I could have lived very nicely without doing so. The problem is, Connie becomes FURIOUS if I don't do this task, which takes away from what I consider to be more important stuff, like reading my e-mail and writing my thoughts here. Keeping Connie happy is important. Why? you wonder. Well, if Connie's unhappy, she makes sure the rest of us are, and being her target totally blows. So, I type her shit so when she comes back, she won't be angry with me. When I'm on vacation, she takes care of my work, but to be honest, MY work has to be done. Hers doesn't. See my dilemma?

I don't know if I mentioned two pups with cleft palates that ended up in a shelter here, but I learned today that a vet has been found to perform their surgeries (free), and I'm thrilled. There were many dog adorers who offered money, adoption and love to these sweet creatures, yet there are many dogs waiting for homes all over the world who aren't even considered for adoption, who die lonely deaths in shelters. I remember when a homeless German shepherd was found running alongside one of our parkways. A man stopped his car and saved the dog's life. There were so many offers to adopt that pooch! At the time, I remember a woman who heads up a shelter who said, "I have half a dozen dogs just like that German shepherd, but no takers. Why does an animal have to be in danger or maimed before peoples' sympathy meter go on?"

Good question. Adopt a homeless dog. Save a life. You'll be so glad you did, because dogs are such wondrous companions. And this is coming from a woman who owns a dog who sometimes bites me!

To the woman who dumped her baby at the Hicksville train station, you had no excuse because of our SAFE HAVEN LAW! You could have dropped your son off at a hospital, police station, fire department, my house--no recriminations, no questions asked. I am sure he was born alive, so you murdered him! I don't care how scared you were, or whether you were in denial of your pregnancy, or whatever cowardly excuse made you do this terrible thing, but I hope there is a special place in hell for anyone who performs such an appalling act. His last name, in case you're interested, will be Hope, like all the other abandoned babies he will join in the cemetery. He had none with you, but will carry that name with him to an afterlife where I know someone will love him.

Off my soapbox now.

One of my favorite TV shows was PROVIDENCE, the story of a woman doctor who returns home to Rhode Island to practice in a local clinic. Her sister has a baby, her father is a vet, so the show featured an adorable baby girl, many dogs, and heartwarming storylines about both. Dogs, a baby and people who loved both--that was my idea of a wonderful show. I was so sorry when it left the air.

Love, Robin