Last in Line
You may recall from a few weeks ago our meeting with the site supervisor regarding our Bilco door entrance to the basement. As a refresher, the plans for our home said that the Bilco door entrance would stick out 5 ft. from the house. Because we got an extra foot depth in the basement, our doors stick out 8.5 feet. Using the Bilco doors was going to be difficult. I worried that if we ever went to sell our house down the road, the Bilco door entrance sticking out so far on the side of the house would be a buyer objection.
At the time, they told us that relocating the Bilco entrance was not a possibility so we came up with a different solution. It was workable but still not great.
Two days ago, we got a call from the builder representative telling us he needed to talk to us about our Bilco door. We figured they just wanted to discuss the retaining wall. We were wrong.
As it stands now, the building inspector will not approve the bilco in its current location. It needs to be moved. The representative threw some ideas at us like cement blocking the area that currently houses the bilco steps. Mr. BBM and I were irritated. Not only would it look different, but we were worried about water and structural issues since they’d be ripping another hole into our basement and trying to seal up the old hole.
We met with the Supervisor yet again yesterday and picked our new location for the bilco entrance. I pity the dude who gets the job of cutting through 10 inches of ribar-enforced concrete to create the new entrance.
We were prepared for a fight, but apparently the concrete guys think they can pour the wall in so it won’t look all that different from the rest of the basement. When all is said and done, we’ll be happier with the new location in the back of the house. We just wish they would have moved it as we asked weeks ago instead of waiting until our entire house was sitting on top of it, complete with plumbing, electric, and duct work for the heating and AC units.
As we were wrapping up our meeting I asked the Supervisor if he was going to now continue my rock wall. He laughed and said, "Or I could just rip the whole thing out." I looked at him disapprovingly and said, "You are going to finish my rock wall right?" He hung his head and said, "Yeah, we’re going to finish your rock wall."
I then questioned him on why the houses with later settlement dates are so far ahead of our house. I told him we need to settle on time. Our awesome mortgage rate that we relocked in this week expires two days after our proposed settlement date. "Don’t worry about it," he said casually. Apparently this builder does not miss settlement dates.
After we got back in the car Mr. BBM had to laugh. I don’t know what it is about these construction guys but I have absolutely no problem speaking up and telling them exactly what I want them to do. Mr. BBM has decided it’s best to just stay out of my way and let me handle it. Maybe if I had been more insistent a few weeks ago, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Lesson learned.
If you are a martial artist and you haven’t yet visited Bags of Character, please do so. My friend from the dojo has set up shop on my site and she sells awesome bags to house kobudo weapons and swords. I own a beautiful blue nunchaku bag and you should too. Check it out!
7 Years Later
Filed under: Mental Strain for Mama
It’s hard to believe that the tragedy of 9/11 happened seven years ago. I knew of people who lost their lives, but I didn’t know anyone directly. I’m sure that those who lost someone have felt every single day of the past seven years tick by slowly without their loved one.
I’d like to draw your attention to a post I wrote to remember one of those victims. May we never forget. . .
Where were YOU eight years ago?
Filed under: Things that get my gi all in a bunch
Despite my desperate ploy to land myself a spot on the show "The View" many months ago, I think it’s always been quite obvious that I am not a fan of Joy Behar. I’m not a Rosie fan either and I seriously think that Joy is becoming worse than Rosie could have ever been.
Last night, we made a brief stop on CNN and watched an interview portion where she, of all people, was talking politics. There is nothing that can increase my blood pressure more than watching Behar discuss politics. She made a bunch of statements about Sarah Palin, including stating that she thinks men like her more than women because "she’s attractive." I just love when women discount the abilities of another because they feel she rode the good looks train to success. It makes me proud to have ovaries.
Or not.
As a man, I would take offense to that statement too. Are men only made of hormones? Are they only capable of appreciating a woman for her looks? Would a man be swayed to vote for an important office simply because someone looks attractive?
I was also irritated when she stated that Sarah Palin does not represent what women are looking for in a leader/politician. I also love it when especially liberal women think that they speak for all women. They most certainly do not speak for me and the majority of my female friends. I wish they would stop pretending they do.
I was also irritated because she began saying that Americans are not better off than we were eight years ago. I looked at Mr. BBM and said, "Where were we eight years ago?"
Eight years ago, to this very date, we were both unemployed. Big I was months old and I had decided to stay home. Because of this family decision, Mr. BBM had left his teaching job. Our house was for sale and he was in the process of trying to get into a training session which would hopefully lead to a job in a new field, one that could support the three of us without having two incomes.
We sold our house and moved in with my parents. We had one car that had "issues."
Eight years later, Mr. BBM has worked his way up the clinical research chain of responsibility into a very good job. We are living with my parents again, but only because the people who bought our house needed it earlier than our new home would be ready. We are building our dream home. I work, not one, but three part time jobs with a fourth on the horizon. I don’t work these part time jobs because I need to; I do it because I want to. We have two cars and they are both paid off. We are markedly better off than we were eight years ago.
Sure, the gas pump prices hurt these days, but they don’t hurt enough to say that we’ve gone backwards on the scale of success as an entire nation. Once again, Behar thinks she’s speaking for everyone. She’s not speaking for us.
We then began talking about our friends and family members and where they were eight years ago. We couldn’t think of a single person we know who is not better off today than they were eight years ago. Not one.
I’m not discounting that we are experiencing some hard times. I’m not discounting that some people don’t have jobs right now. I understand this, and I can sympathize with those people. I know what those times are like. We’ve been there. Past tense.
That’s why grandiose statements about everyone being so much worse off don’t work for me. Where was Joy Behar eight years ago? I’ve venture a guess that she’s much more well off now as well.
While comments (whether they agree with me or not) are always welcome, comments that are insensitive, insulting, and malicious will be promptly deleted. I realize we’re in hot political times, and while this may be the United States of America where we have freedom of speech, on this blog, it’s Black Belt Mama’s way or the highway.
Shock and Awe
Filed under: Back in the Classroom, Building the BBM House
Today I collected 24 rough drafts. They were all typed and of the appropriate length. Did I mention I only have 24 students in this class? Do you get the significance of all 24 students handing in their paper on time?
In my speech course, all of my students who were scheduled to speak today showed up. They didn’t just show up though. They showed up dressed up and they actually seemed excited to speak. In fact, some of them were so excited to speak that they went way over their time limit and we ended up only hearing seven of the ten speeches that were to be given today.
These students blew me away today. Teaching college is different from high school, in that it doesn’t take long for them to get the importance of doing the required work and doing it well.
In other news, this week my house is being wired for electric and being chainsawed to make way for duct work. Yes chainsawed. It was rather loud. We met with the electrician today for about an hour. We went room to room and he wrote with a marker on all of our walls, detailing out where we want cable and phone jacks, electrical outlets and even the switched lights. It is completely overwhelming to have to pick the location of every single outlet in your house, so I only picked the important ones and left the rest up to the electrician. I’m going to trust that putting them all in the ceiling in one corner of the room would be rough on his arms.
He says he will be finished on Thursday which makes way for the insulation and drywall people. 40 days to go (and today we asked if they can move it up by three days). Keep your fingers crossed. Talk about "shock."
The Kickoff
Ah, fantasy football season. You start off with high expectations, and a roster that is hurricane force wind proof. You get excited because you realize that McNabb was a stellar draft pick. You get excited until you realize that you only have McNabb in one league and that your opponent in the other league is also experiencing ecstatic McNabb feelings.
Drat.
As it stands right now, I’ve lost miserably in my own league. In my other league, my only hope is that Jay Cutler hears my plea for him to get McNabb-like numbers. Otherwise, I will have suffered dual defeats.
With that in mind, I have some messages for my players:
Steven Jackson: What the. . .? No seriously. I didn’t draft you in the first round to watch you get washed up by the Eagles D. I mean, I realize they’re good and all, but you couldn’t break off just a couple longer runs or maybe one measly TD?
Willie Parker: I have nothing negative for you sweetheart. Everyone doubted you, but not me. Not ever. Thank you.
Michael Turner: Uh-huh, see Parker’s comment. You rock.
Braylon Edwards: Top 5 fantasy WR? I think not. You better bring it next week or you’ll find your hieney warming the bench.
Santonio Holmes: Did I miss the memo where you guys all decided that Ward was going to be the big deal this year? I would have appreciated some advance notice. Not at all COOL. It’s especially not cool because I own you and played you in both leagues. NOT COOL.
Heath Miller: I’ll let you slide. You’re a TE after all. Next week, I expect big things from you. . . at least bigger things anyway.
Giants D: You couldn’t manage to give me more than 5 points? You’re the Super Bowl D! Come on already!
Matt Forte: You should have told me you were going to be a stud. I’m so stupid for sitting you on my bench. Steven Jackson look out. Forte has put your starting status on official notice.
Housh: 4 points. No seriously! 4 points!!! Bring your seat cushion next week so your butt doesn’t get sore on my bench.
Chargers D: 2 points! 2 points! You should be ashamed of yourselves.
In other football related news, speculation is rampant that Tom Brady has torn his ACL. I got physically sick in my stomach when I watched that guy plow into his leg. The movement that his knee made. . . I could almost feel it. Although my leg went a different direction, that pop-inducing motion is the same. I may not be a NE fan, but I feel for you. Nintai.
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