Well actually it is only Tuesday, and it has been a bad week. My husbands work has slowed down so much he is nearly unemployed, but he didn't say anything until after I had put the down payment on new counters, and tile for the back splash, bought paint, and fabric for blinds. So I notice a water stain on my wall in the dining room, so I go up onto the roof to see what is up. Well the shingles are in very rough shape, and the roof needs to be replaced. OK so not only has our income decreased but our expenses are way up. But my husband and I are reminding ourselves that we have to trust in the Lord.
The other day I noticed what I thought was a cataract forming in my 7 year old Golden Retrievers right eye, but it didn't look right, and he is too young for cataracts, so off to the vets we go today. It doesn't look good as the vet thinks that there is a growth inside of his eye. She wants to refer us to an veterinarian ophthalmologist, that travels around BC, and if we can't get her we have to go to Vancouver 300 miles away. Well this visit, with blood work cost $266.00, so I con only imagine what the specialist costs. The vet thinks ultimately his eye will have to be removed, and she would do it, but she wants to have the specialists opinion. I am just sick!!! Kona was so good, she said she normally has to mussel a dog to do the eye pressure exam, but he was cooperative, she didn't feel she had to. He is totally exhausted from the exam, and has hardly gotten off of his cushion. He usually follows me around the house.
Then just to top off the evening I discovered that my 14 year old step son, managed to buy a pellet gun that looks like an actual pistol. You need to have a guardian present or be 18 years of age to buy one so he had gone behind our back and bought it. It seems he told a friends mother while they were in the store, that he was allowed, and had one already that he used all the time. This was not true, but she didn't know. I called her and asked her why she gave consent without checking with us. Interestingly, she does not allow her boys to have a pellet gun, but she consented. She was very embarrassed, and admitted she had second thoughts, but hadn't used her common sense. When we told him he would have to return it, he said that he had thrown out the receipt. My husband thinks it is a waste to throw it out, but I think it is the principle of the matter.
So we walked our son over to apologize, and noticed a running van with a 4 and 8 year old in it screaming. I gave it 10 to 15 min. before I was going to the van, and the kids climbed out. So here is a van running and nobody in it. I AVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!! I walk over to the van pull the keys out and walk down to the house where the driver is. I tell him I am an emergency nurse, and have had to work on a 4 year old that died after the vehicle, he and his brother had been left in rolled. He was getting out, and the door knocked him over as it rolled, and his head went under the wheel. I was just shaking, and he looked totally shocked, but shook my hand and thanked me for giving him a wake up call. What next??????????

My parents lhasa apso had the pressure test and had to have his eye removed, he did wodnerful w/ recovery and he was a happy dog!! He later went blind in his other eye but got around like you wouldnt believe! He lived that way for almost 2 years, then he got really sick and we didnt know why, ended up paralyyzed and was put to sleep THEN about 2 weeks later we learned that his food was one of the recalled ones and is probably what ended up making his demise!

Sorry to hear about your run of unfortunate luck. Sometimes it seems like it never rains but it pours...Hang in there gal. Things will turn around, it might take awhile and the belt and budget may need to be tightened but you'll pull through. It really does cause us to check our priorities from time to time doesn't it.

I don't know about the store where your son got the pellet gun but if they need a receipt to give you a refund they may be willing to give you store credit just for returning it. And I would make a big stink with the manager that you were not with your son and he did not have your permission and that a friends mother ok'd the purchase without your consent. Chances are they will take the product back and will offer you in store credit.

If not then I would definitely not allow him to have use of it, just for general principle over the matter; by doing so will let him think he has pulled something over on you and what will it be the next time he wants something he know's you guys wouldn't want him to have? That's my opinion on that matter anyway.

Sending you a big hug and some good mojo to hopefully change your luck a little bit. HUGS HUGS HUGS!!!

I would take the gun back to the store and tell them that they will either take it back or you will go and file a police report. Generally a parent or guardian is the one that has to consent and since his friend's mother was neither a parent nor a guardian they could run into big trouble.

Failing that, let me know what your son paid for it and I'll see if one of my friends or my brother's friends (who are all over the age of 18) would like to buy one from you. I'm just in Alberta so it shouldn't be too hard to transport it. Otherwise you can always take it away and lock it up until he is 18. Tell him he has to pay the rental for the lock box at the bank until he is 18 or he has to get rid of the gun. (Good lord I am starting to sound like my parents!)

As for the new counters and kitchen stuff, that stinks big time! Sadly I don't have any ideas on what you can do about that.

To save money on the roof you could try just patching the areas that are in the roughest shape. Failing that, try talking to people that work in trades/homebuilding to sniff out if anyone has a friend that used to be a roofer that wants to make some extra money. We have a couple people at my company that used to do things like roofing, siding, drywall etc and for a few hundred bucks and a case of beer they take side jobs on occasion but it's usually "A friend of a friend" sort of deal. I must admit they are useful friends to have.

Sorry your week has stunk so far. Any hope that your hubby's work will pick up???

Oh yes, I know those days too. So sorry you are having such a bumpy ride at this time.
Your faith will bring you through and you will be blessed.

Thanks guys, your support helps. Brandon definitely will not be getting the gun back. He bought the pellet gun in another town, so it is not our local store that screwed up. Brandon said that he paid $90.00 for it. My neighbor said that she had wondered why Brandon was keeping the pellet gun at her place, after she had asked him twice to take it home. Not only had he bought a pellet pistol, but a soft ball gun at the same time. He already had a pink soft shot gun (it shoots little orange plastic balls) so he bought the other one for one of his friends to use. They had been running around the block, and park shooting at each other. The most difficult thing for me to deal with is the deception. I know that kids do dumb things, as I have 2 grown sons, but I am not used to the lying. Both of my step kids, are terrible liars, and are very deceptive. I am fortunate that they don't smoke, drink, or are out sleeping around, but I am very worried about their integrity. This was a good lesson for Brandon in that he had to go and apologize to the neighbor about being allowed to have a pellet gun. We explained to him, that now she would not trust him now that she knew he was a liar. And that she might be very concerned about him influencing her own sons. I think he was pretty embarrassed about that.
The quote to replace the roof was actually quite reasonable. I actually roofed the house myself originally 24 years ago, but had to replace it on insurance because of a very bad hail storm we had. I thought that we had a reputable roofing company do it, but as it turns out they hadn't done a very good job. There were so many homes with damaged roofs that they were cutting corners to get as many jobs done as they could. If I was a bit more able bodied I would do it again, but after having disc surgery a year ago, I don't think that would be smart. I am not 24 years old anymore.
As for Kona I called my brother in law who is an optometrist and as him if he could look at the eye. He sounded quite interested in it, and will come over after his office closes. He was going to do some googling on the subject. The good thing is that Kona does not appear to be in any distress at all.
But my live is good compared to my across the street neighbor. His wife of 64 years died very quickly of cancer 5 days ago. They were never apart, and did everything together. He mowed the lawn and she swept the driveway of the clippings. In the evening they used to sit on their front bench with ice tea and watch or great people as they walked by. Now he sits alone on the step, of in a lawn chair staring into space. I have not seen him sit on the bench. A few days ago he told my husband that if he didn't have Daisy his german shepherd that he would probably blow his brains out. He also brought my husband into his house and showed him Usela's ashes which were in a box, on her side of the bed. He sleeps with Daisy, and his wife's ashes. It breaks my heart. We invited him to church with us, as he said that he was a Christian, but he was a bad one because he was mad a God for taking his wife away.
So that puts a loth of what I am going through into perspective, doesn't it. OK I am done with this essay, go now and look out your window at a far away place, and soothe your eyes.

That is a bad few days. Sure hope things turn around as fast as thay went south.
What's wrong with throwing the gun away? Kinda lets him know that doing things behind your back is a waste of time. lol
If you do return the gun then maybe you should keep the money and not let him have that back. lol

Well that is what I told my husband but he feels it is a waste. I think it would be an invaluable lesson. I am definitely the tougher disciplinarian, but that is a tough thing being a step parent. I think that the reason the kids have truth issues is that they were allowed to get away with a lot before I came along. My husband would tell them to do something, and then ask them if it was done. They would say yes but he never checked, so they knew they just had to say what he wanted to hear rather than the truth. When I came a long, and he asked them to clean their room, and they went away, and came back an hour later saying it was done. Well I popped up, and said lets go check it, thinking I would give them praise for a job well done. Well they both looked shocked and screamed no, don't go and look! Of course now my then boyfriend became interested and came with me. The room looked like a hurricane had gone through it, in fact it was worse than it had been before. The kids admitted at that time that their dad never looked so they had been doing this for a while. My husband is still a bit that way now, and seems to rely on me to be the eyes and ears. I don't know is this a father thing? My first husband didn't seem, to pay attention either.

See, the importance of things do tend to change when you look at it from a different prespective.

At least you do have your health and your loved ones are close by.

I hope your neighbor realizes that being angry with God is part of the grieving process and that we all go through the different stages of grieving, so he shouldn't feel guilty for doing so. Maybe if you fix him a meal or two once in a while it will help him some too. Invite him over for evening and just listen to his stories, encourage him to talk about his wife and the happy times in their life and even though it may be difficult at first for both of you, it will help him just to be able to talk about things.

I had a neighbor who lived across the alley from me who was the sweetest old man, he'd lost his wife and though he had adult children in the area that visited often I started chatting with him and he told me once that one of the things he missed most about his wife was the cookies she used to suprise him with so every once in a while I'd make up a batch of choc. chip cookies or some type of sweet bread and sneak it over and set it on his kitchen table. It meant a lot to him that we cared enough to do that for him. He became like a second grandfather to me. And was a very interesting man with a lot of wisdom if you took the time to listen. He has since moved away to live with a daughter who lives a couple hours away, and I really miss seeing him over on his patio.

So anyway, hopefully your concerns will ease even more and what seemed like mountains will soon just be mole hills and be of little or no concern. HUGS!

I've been right there with you. LOL

Are you an evil step mother too? Or married to a man with his head in the sand?

My current man's thing is poop... he practically faints at the sight of poop

I used to work in a vet clinic and own a dog, poop does not phase me. Heck, one time I accidentally ate (then spat out) parrot poop after Captain decided to lean off her cage and poop on my food! No big deal.

We were babysitting some friend's children to give them a night out a couple of weeks ago and the baby woke up and started crying so I was like "Oh, probably needs a new diaper" and went and changed him. Brought him downstairs and THEN he peed... which promptly leaked out of his pampers and all over me. I shrugged it off as no big deal and said "Ew, you sneaky little bugger, you peed on me!" well you'd think my man was going to die. Death by piddles. He was so grossed out and just fit to be tied

The whole rest of the night he kept eyeballing the baby as though it was going to sneak attack him with poop. I finally told him the 6 month old was not a ninja and he need not be concerned but even that didn't help.

Honestly, it's not like it doesn't wash off!

Sorry to here that things are tight. I hope things get better.

Now I'm a step mom and let me tell you I love being a step mom to three boys, but not a 21 year old young woman (that thinks she is 12) Last time I talked to her we had alot of words for each other. I can't stand her and she can't stand me. Which I frankly don't care!


But that's only because she treats her Dad like crap and I won't stand for it. I tell her you need to respect your dad. I never and I still would not say the things you say to you dad to my dad I tell her. I respect my parents and I don't except them to jump when I say and ask how high.


She can't seem to grasp her dad is SICK and need to realize that before it's to late, but she don't care. She getting married in January and if she has not got her crap together before then her dad won't be there! I'm sure she is going to have her step dad walk her down the Aile and I won't put Ray through that~!!

I hope things get better soon for you all. I'm sorry about your dog. Thats so sad!

That is so funny! When my husband has to clean anything like that he continuously gags. I have to say that I find that completely hysterical, and can't help but laugh. And if I laugh so does Tiki. Yesterday I had to get a urine sample from Kona. I took him outside the vets place and walked him in the grass. As soon as he started to pee, I put a stainless steel bowl under him. Well he is long haired, and in the grass it is difficult to see the stream. So as you can imagine I got peed on, but it wasn't the first time, and won't be the last.

I'm hoping that things get better for you right away. Kids will always try us to see what we'll put up with. Mine found out I won't put up with anything that's not legal or moral.
I too think the best thing to do is either put the gun away til the boy is 18 or 20, or just throw it away...maybe even sell it and give the money to charity!
I hope the dog's eye is in better shape than that particular vet is guessing. Wish we could help. Right now all I can do is pray and I know God is still in the miracle business, so maybe His answer to my prayers will be a big old YES.