and now...

...the serious one. Blah. This is really long, just a heads up. I need to get so much off my chest, I am so stressed out! I love free therapy, so here goes:

First up, still not pregnant. :( AF came before I even had a chance to think about taking the pregnancy test I bought. Ah well. My hormones are all out of whack. I've been using Fertility Friend and charting my temperature. I exhibited physical signs of ovulation, but my temperature shift was a couple days later than that. Then, to top it off, my luteal phase is really short. The LP is the number of days between ovulation and menstruation. The optimal baby-making luteal phase is 14 days, 12 days is acceptable, but on the short side. Any longer doesn't affect conception. My luteal phase is 5 days. 5! Blah. Or, it was last month in January's cycle according to FF. I did a little research and one way I can increase my luteal phase is to add more B6 vitamins. The dosage recommendation varies, but around 100mg added to my prenatal vitamin (which I haven't been taking as strictly as I should) should help increase my LP. B6 is also found naturally in whole grains, meat and eggs, which are already staples in my healthy lifestyle change. I read something today that sugar intake can affect your LP and we all know I'm a sugar addict, so I'm going to cut way down on that as well. Also, I hate to say it, but breastfeeding must also be a factor. Meghan still nurses 3-5 times a day. I don't want to wean Meghan, and I know she doesn't either. So, I'm going to add the vitamins and see what happens, when we get a bit of extra money that is.

Speaking of. Money always seems to be an issue, especially in our single income family. I've always felt the calling to be a stay-at-home mom and homemaker. But, now money is going to get really tight. Today is Drew's last day working. His company shut down the entire warehouse he was working in and laid off almost all of the employees in it. He's going to get unemployment and I'm still babysitting Dylan, so we'll be able to cover rent and the important bills. But we're definitely going to have to tighten our belts. Haha. Not that we go out to eat a lot, but occasionally. We ate at Red Lobster last weekend because I was lucky enough to win a giftcard. At any rate, we'll probably pause the Netflix and either cancel or at least cut down the cable bill. Right now we have the internet, home phone and cable tv bundle deal and we can save at least $60 if we subscribe to just the internet. We don't need the phone and tv, but not having the internet would certainly put a kink in my hose ;)

Our lease is up in May. And we are definitely moving. I'm pretty sure the landlord won't be renewing our lease after all this leaking ceiling/with holding rent business. Here's the backstory on that:

Our ceiling started leaking in May of 2011. The paint had been bubbling. It happened in the middle of the night so I called the emergency maintenance line and was told someone would come out that night. So I slept on the couch, thinking that someone would be there and I didn't want them to wake up Meghan if they had to pound on the door to wake one of us up to answer it. Our landlord is notorious for slacking. When we moved in, the dishwasher didn't work right and they told us someone had been out to look at it and said we were using too much soap or dishwashing soap like Dawn and not dishwasher detergent. When, in fact, no one had been out to look at it. They ended up replacing the old junker after Meghan was born, when it finally stopped working. This sort of pattern happens anytime something breaks here. Unless it's water related like when the tub handle broke and the water wouldn't shut off. Same thing with the toilet handle. Both times, someone came right out.

At any rate, the ceiling was leaking. I called the next day after no one showed up and then started the "Oh, someone will be out. We'll get right on that." blahblahblah. This went on for 5 months, until October. I would call and get the run around, or submit the online maintenance request and get no response. So, we stopped paying rent in October. They sent us a letter stating that we had to pay X amount or move out, so I called right away and informed the then-secretary Candy, that we weren't paying because no one had ever come out to fix the ceiling or even look at the air conditioner (which makes a really loud grinding noise and we reported in May with the leaky ceiling) Candy told me that she would inform the landlord that that was the reason why we were withholding payment. This exact exchange happened again in November.

Then finally, Sam the roofer showed up in November and did some repairs on the outside of the roof, above our porch/veranda thing. (This was where the wind had ripped off the underside of the roof eaves and the molding around the sliding glass door in November of 2010) But, the ceiling continued to leak. So we got another letter in December and I once again, called to tell them that the ceiling was still leaking. Sam came out again near Christmas and did some repairs on the top of the roof, caulking I think.

The ceiling continued to leak, albeit slower than before. So I called them after we received the January letter and told them that the ceiling continued to leak. Sam came out again and cut apart the ceiling. There was a piece of sheet rock hanging by the stretched paint, so he cut that off. When he did, we could see the red and black mold in the ceiling from all the raining. It should be noted that this spot of ceiling had a previous patch on it. Sam patched it up again without a word about the mold, but I know he saw it as well. He said he thought the light leaking was the rest of the water in the ceiling running down.

Now we have a patched ceiling and quite a high bill. I paid February's rent on the 3rd as they had finally gotten around to sending someone to fix the ceiling. At that point we owed rent from October to January. We had also not saved that much. Heh. We had about 1/2 of what we owed and Drew's paycheck due the 16th. We had gotten a terse message on the 10th that the landlord would be taking us to court if we didn't make a payment. On the 15th a man showed up and served us papers to appear in court on the 21st to get their money and evict us. After he left, I called and spoke to the new secretary, Andi-who has the thickest accent I can't hardly understand her. Andi had told me when I called on Tuesday-14th that if we made payment then they would stop the legal process and eviction. When I spoke to her again on Wednesday-15th, she said the same thing. I told her that we had made a payment on Monday-13th and would be making another on the Thursday-16th and I asked her why she was telling me different things. She repeated the same nonsense, that we owed too much and that if we made payment then they would stop the legal blahblahblah. She said that she would see me on Friday-17th (I don't know why because I never said that I would be making a payment in person and I had always said "on Thursday" in our conversations. So we hung up and I cried. A lot. It's terrifying to have some guy come to your door with court papers. And of course, the first thing your mind goes to is being homeless with a small child. :(

At any rate, I pulled myself together. We've paid over $1600 in 4 days and I still can't get a call back from them. I made 2 month's worth of payments on Thursday in the morning and called a few hours later to make sure they received it and to make sure they were stopping all the legal nonsense. I spoke to Andi again and she said she would speak to the office manager, Terri (whom I've spoken to before about the whole ceiling/withholding rent deal and she's just as awesome as everyone else there {read:sarcasm}) and then call me back. Surprise, I never heard from them yesterday or today. So, I get to make another phone call on Monday to see where we stand and whether or not we'll be going to court on Tuesday.

In a completely unrelated matter, my whole lifestyle change is going ok. That always seems to be the status. I wish it was something I was excellent at, like crafting ;) But, it's not. I really have to work at it. I've been jogging in the living room for 30 minutes a day, most days :) I try not to stress if I miss a few days, as usually we are out and about and so I'm doing way more walking than I usually do. I've been the same weight for the last three days in a row. Which I find to be very. frustrating. Especially since I've been eating more salads and doing less non-healthy snacking. But, I have had a lot of sweets this week, thanks to Valentine's Day and my weak willpower :)

Thank goodness the whole house thing didn't work out, imagine that added to our stress level!

Ok, I've been working on this all day, time to get crafty ;)