There is so much in life that we are unable to control. And to a person whose eye starts twitching at the mere thought of loss of control, that is a tough pill to swallow.
My life lately has been an exercise in "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." Perhaps there's a lesson I need to be learning here.
Perhaps not.
All I know is, there may or may not be a curse upon our new house. And I seem to have lost my ability to control curses, because nothing is working. Let's look at the facts, shall we?
We move in. I notice that wasps have colonized the outside of our house. I cannot abide by flying, stinging insects. Bugman is called. Pricetag? $180.
Fred tries to use sprinkler system. Sprinkler system does not work properly. Fred calls guy out too look at it. Price tag to fix? $1500. We do not fix it. Fred does. For $4.
Ants have infested our upstairs bathroom. I will not share my house with insects. Bugman is called. Pricetag? Actually free... included in the $180 mentioned above.
Elise contracts a mystery rash. A very BAD mystery rash. That STILL isn't completely gone. Pricetag? Pedi visit + derm visit + over-the-counter meds + rx meds... you do the math.
Big storm causes tree limb to fall on Fred's car doing $3500 worth of damage. Pricetag? $500 deductible.
A car driving by (or something just as insignificant) causes another limb to fall, narrowly missing Fred's car. We decided to rid ourselves of this arbored-menace and have it cut down. Pricetag? $280.
Ants move their infestation to the downstairs bathroom. Bugman called yet again. Pricetag? Included.
Downstairs AC goes out. Home warranty people contacted. Run around given. Three different companies come to diagnose. Days go by. Part ordered from Texarkana. More days go by (apparently they are WALKING the part to Dallas). Phone calls made. Joanne is angered. Temperatures reach 87 degrees in the house. Joanne's head explodes. Eight days later AC is fixed. Pricetag? $134 + so much pain and suffering.
This is all in one month, people.
The latest trial is that there is a mole (or moles) in our backyard, threatening to do damage to all the hard work Fred has put into our lawn. I have been enjoying having a lawn that the kids can play on, as opposed to the obstacle course of weeds, fire ant hills, bare patches and mole holes that was the lawn at our old place.
We're not going down without a fight.
Today on the phone my Mom told me you can remedy moles by pouring urine down their holes.
And I was all, "really? Urine? I CAN DO THAT!"
So Fred got a cup and both of us made a contribution to the cause. We then ran giggling like a bunch of idiots to the backyard to pour pee down a hole. It was so awesome, I can't even begin to tell you. Finally... we were taking control of our own destiny (for FREE) and vanquishing the moles!
It's too soon to tell if it's working, but I finally feel like I've gained a little bit of control back in my life.
And if you're ever in our bathroom, and see a cup with the letter "P" written on it. Please don't use it.
For obvious reasons.
Ferg Year in Review 2023
10 months ago
