FINALLY!!!!! Oakes Family reunion pics are here.

In other news, There are still 8 fans running in the basement, drying out a couple of damp spots. Hoefully, they'll be done with the cleanup tomorrow or Thursday. Then the insurance company can approve the expenditure for the repairs. Then we can get reimbursed for all the stuff that got ruined. Then we get to shopping for new stuff!!!!!

TTFN...

For those of you who are looking for Oakes family reunion photos.....they'll be here in a few days. Why so late?

On Monday night Windsor got hit with a big storm. The sewer backed up...right into our basement. Not the storm sewer - the sanitary sewer. Yep, that's right, an inch of raw sewage covering every square inch of our basement. Imagine my distress, when getting up Tuesday morning, going to the basement to iron something to wear to work. I flipped on the basement light, hit the landing, looked down towards the basement floor, and wondered, "What the....aw crap!!!!" (Literally)

We had someone come to see how much it would cost to clean up before we called the insurance company. When they told us that would cost at least $3500, just for "Emergency cleanup" (only the sewage cleanup and sanitization), we called the insurance company. An adjuster came out right away. Everything is covered, including the laundry that I left on the floor to finish the next night. Thank G-d I'd washed my dainties...no one needs to see THOSE...

Today, the restoration crew came in today, with a dumpster, cleaned up the floor, removed all the debris, brought in EIGHT industrial fans (GEEZ these things are noisy) a de-humidifier that can remove 120 pints of water in a 24 hours period. They also had us crank the A/C down to 20 C (68 F). It's freezing in here. All the furniture is getting turfed, except Greg's desk - it can be dried satisfactorily. None of Greg's books/DVDs/etc., were harmed, nor was his computer.

On the plus side, all the scrap wood that was in the basement from the workbench demolition, and various other projects, is getting carted off - FREE!!! WOOHOO!!! The drywall that flanks either side of the water heater and furnace is getting replaced - the bottom half where the damage was. The panelling that was on the freezer wall is getting removed, and I think they're going to replace it with drywall.

The only out-of pocket expense I'm going to have from all this? The cost to have the drain snaked out - $80.25. Oh yeah, and the hydro (electricity for my American friends) costs to run all these fans and the de-humidifier, and the A/C. The fans are estimated to cost a dollar a day EACH to run, and they'll have to run for quite a few days. The $250 deductible gets taken from the amount that we get for replacement costs for the furniture, etc. Greg will even be reimbursed for his work.

Now, I know I'm not doing the work, so what's my excuse for not having the pics? We just got a new secretary in the Department, the other is on vacation this week, and I've just come back from a two day vacation, and the basement stress on top of it. I just want to sit and do nothing when I come home!!! So you'll just have to wait for a few days.

Just so you know... some of the pics turned out GGREAT!!!!! Just not the ones with ME in them ;)

Stay tuned.....

(courtesy of Internetbumperstickers.com)

WOOHOO!!!!!  This past Sunday, Lance Armstrong won a SIXTH consecutive Tour de France!  Greg's glad the "ordeal" is finally over.    Geez,  these guys race 2000 kilometres PLUS in 21 days, Lance kicks ass by more than 6 minutes over his nearest competitor, it's the second most watched sporting event in the WORLD (next to the World Cup) and Greg has the "guts" to have the opinion that it's not a sport.   Jerk!!!  I'd like to see any of his beloved hockey or football players last ONE day in the Tour, let alone finish it!

In other news Tantie aka deafed aka Sharon (my Zone buddy)  came to vist last week.  We visited the casino (of course), shopped, and went for pedicures.  Fun fun...

 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...
I am "Host of the Month" (HOM) for Lightning Gammon. For those of you who don't know, I host backgammon tournaments on Zone.com, with a cool bunch of people, in a group called "Lightning Gammon". This the group I went to Vegas to meet back in April.

As part of my "duties" as HOM, each host runs a macro saying who the Host and Player of the month are (I dont run the HOM in my tournies, but that doesn't stop the other hosties from doing when they're in them!! ;) I also do an "interview". It's here.

Lots of news...

Over the Canada Day weekend, I went to visit Kristen and Alan. Visited some nice wineries, bought some yummy fruit wine, and visited Casino Niagara. I bought some chocolate but it was all melty by the time I got it home. "Clusters" that I bought at Picard's Peanuts are now a clump that Greg smoooshed and declared a chocolate "bar".

This past weekend, Greg's family came over to celebrate Sean's birthday. Lots of food, drink (take a peek in the empty liquor cainet, lol) and fun were had by all. Of course we had to make a visit to Casino Windsor.

In other news, Brenda's Birthday stalker strikes again!! For those of you who remember, last year I sent Brenda bunches of bunches of e-cards in the ten days leading up to her birthday. She received so many that she thought she was being stalked. Look at the July 23rd, 2003 entry in 2003 News page for the full story. This year, I repeated the process, but convinced Brenda that I would NEVER pull the same prank twice. Yesterday (her birthday), I sent her a link to this page to see who her cyberstalker was. This was her response. To soften the blow, I invited the Grad House gang to dinner as a surprise.

Today I received my order from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, makers of custom perfume blends. Among the samples I ordered...Gluttony...Hunger...Lust...de Sade...RoadHouse...Pain...Vice. I wonder what Freud would have to say about this?

This weekend one of my Zone.com hostie buddies is coming to visit. More details later... stay tuned.

We visited Greg's parents this weekend. Greg's parents recently bought a hottub.
The hottub kicks ass, especially the lounge seat with the jets all along the leg area.
Greg's parents got the hottub because they have all this disposable cash now that they don't have three boys to feed. They didn't foresee that the boys would want to visit MORE often now that there's a hottub there...

Mmmmmmmm....hoooooottuuuubbbbbbb......DROOL (I've GOT to stop channeling Homer Simpson).

I took some pics of the yard after Greg did some work in it. pics are here.

I'm such a bad friend. I forgot Kristen's birthday.....

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY KRISTEN !!!!

This is how Bandit sleeps. She was like this for a full five minutes until I took the pic, then she woke up.

More signs of spring in my yard here.

Came back from Vegas on Monday night...very VERY late on Monday nite... pics are here.

Also...a few pics of Bandit and Greg, taken before I left. They're here.

Yesterday was the last day at the Grad House for the summer. A good time was had by all until the beer ran out.

A certain someone, who made me promise NEVER to mention him by name in this blog, thinks the combination of sunglasses and Tilley hat I was wearing out on the patio as "hot" and "badass". No, it wasn't Greg - he thinks my Tilley hat looks silly (no rhyme intended).

In other news ... FIVE days 'til Vegas!!!!!

For those of my out of town friends who miss WDET (Detroit's Public Radio station), you can get it here.

There... I've performed my good deed for the day. :D

For some of you who missed some of the recent pics....Corn Soup and Heather's 40th Birthday Party

As you can see... I've changed the site a bit to accomodate the blog. What do you think? Email me, or sign the guestbook.

I have joined the world of blogs!!!!! I'll be posting here more often now that I can just come here and
have it automatically posted. Get ready... more rants... more raves! Mwah hahahaha.

Check back often.