Erin - that's a horrible surprise and I hope you hear from your prof soonest.

I had heard that Tom had enthused about Katie on Oprah. . . I hadn't known about the bizarro jumping up and down and stuff 'til I followed that link to the screen caps. What a weirdo!

One of my mother's childhood friends jumped out of a window (and killed herself) thanks to ppd. Tom is a creep and an idiot.

Are you going to keep working where you are when you start school?

Well, the job stress should ease off some after June, damned June. So I will still be here for a while at least. My work is paying for school, so I'll be at the general university for a while at least.

I'm going to see if next spring/summer will be like this one and consider my options then. My boss is of the opinion that we shouldn't want to die and kill ourselves, so her scheduling in the future may be a bit more realistic. To be fair, we have some monsterous situations that have occurred this spring/summer that should never align again.

I don't like hating June, but it is really hating on me, so I have no choice. All the work stress and 50-60 hour weeks over the last few months have been a warm up to June.

t melts

Sorry for whining.

All unpacked yet?

Ha! I have gotten all the boxes that were physically in the kitchen unpacked, and the den is pretty livable, but there are still alot of boxes. I"m trying to stick to unpacking at least one box every day, but I didn't even do that yesterday. Oh well.

My boss is of the opinion that we shouldn't want to die and kill ourselves, so her scheduling in the future may be a bit more realistic.

That's good. Not every boss holds that opinion. I hope you June is not as bad as you expect, Nora, and if it is, that you get through it and things get easier.

I need some advice.

I realized the other night that the majority of the outlets in the house are two prong and not three prong. I've had to run extension cords in order to get my tv/dvd/vcr and computer plugged in. I'm sure this isn't the safest thing to do.

But I'm not sure how to approach my landlady --- I know that there wasn't much done on the house in the 10 yrs that my grandmother lived there and for some reason she bought the stove and maybe the fridge. I feel kind of demandy because I've already mentioned the gutters need to be cleaned, the screens need to be replaced, and asked to have an exterminator come because of possible rats. They were keeping the rent really low Grandma E and only raised it by $50 for me. They could get at least $300 more for the place and I haven't signed a lease yet so I'm worried that my landlady will think I'm too much trouble.

I was thinking about waiting and sending a note about the outlets with next months rent. Should I mention it now, or just wait?

Askye, can't you just get adapters for the outlets?

t edit Something like this: [link]

Or a single adapter, like this: [link]

And this one is a thing of beauty, because of its many outlets (I use it in my apartment): [link]

askye, I'm not sure about the timing - I'd wait, but I'm kind of diffident towards landlords right now, so my advice might not be the most objective. I"d certainly want a signed lease first.

However, I do recommend that you approach the landlady about an improvement to her property that will make it more valuable to future tenants, and maybe volunteer to get it done and deduct the expense from the following months rent (giving her the receipt so she can deduct the cost of property improvement from her taxes). That way it's no trouble to her, you get exactly what you want done and it's (eventually) no cost to you. You do have to front the cost of the upgrade, which may or may not be doable.

(eta: or just get adapters. I've used them, but I never really trusted them. I have no reason for this distrust)

Askye, can't you just get adapters for the outlets?

Actually, there are good reasons to mistrust adapters. They allow you to plug in three-pronged cords, but your outlets are still not grounded. Surge protection won't work as well as it's supposed to, because the ground is the best path for the electricity. Ungrounded outlets also indicate an older electrical system that might not be adequate for modern demands. I'm not sure how you convince a landlady to replace an electrical system, though. It's a pretty expensive proposition.

could it be night terrors?

Night terrors are usually pretty obvious. There is absolutely no consoling the child--who's still asleep but usually pretty active physically. I was worried when O kept waking up and crying, seeming to still be asleep so I called the pediatrician. As long as they're consolable, I don't think they're considered night terrors.

Toddlers are crafty, manipulative little people and if they don't want to sleep alone, they'll do anything they can to achieve that end.

We finally broke down and did the crying thing and it worked. Only it's more of an on-going process because things will still cause interruptions in the cycle and he'll go back to waking up or sleeping less, because of teething, travel, or whatever. I just try to get through those re-training periods whenever I can and enjoy the times when he's sleeping through while they're there.

I'm just lucky because he's not big enough to get out of the crib yet. I can't imagine dealing with a child in a toddler bed who decides he or she wants to go and get into bed with Mommy and Daddy on their own. Or who can actually speak words--plaintively yelling for me and crying for long periods of time. *shudder* I'm already formulating a plan to deal.

The wiring may need to be replaced eventually anyway, though. I guess that depends on what demand for rentals in the area is like. But if your willing to have the work done while you're living there (and paying rent) taht would be better for the owner than having to do it between tenants. I would think.

Anyone have advice on buying a washer and dryer?

Anyone have advice on buying a washer and dryer?

No advice, but I think Sears is having a big sale...worth checking out anyway.