Sometimes I sit here in this house and wonder: “how did we get our lives to turn out like this?”

Sure, some days I miss New York, but I will tell you that I would never go back.  Sometimes I kid Sean and tell him I HATE IT HERE (with foot stomping and everything) and that WE HAVE TO GO BACK (like some episodes in Lost) and he says that I’ll have to go back alone because he’s not leaving.  I know he’s not even remotely kidding and that makes me feel good.  No way in hell I’m going back either.

Days are peaceful and relaxing.  I feel like I’ve been on vacation for 6 months.  There have been days of “work” for sure, but the quiet and all the nature we are surrounded by makes it less like “work”.

We picked these wild daises from a field just down the road from our house the other day on a walk with Dewey. When I saw the little white specks from a distance, my heart skipped a beat. Could it be? I LOVE daisies! And as we got closer, I got much happier

I placed them in a bottle and plopped them down on my desk.  Next two the 3 yellow gerbera daisies I had picked from my own garden a few days prior.

Things really aren’t so horrible here afterall.  I’ll get used to the bugs and LIZARDS!  And I’ll deal with all the niceness around us.  There are worse things for sure.  I know we have it good.  We might not have everything we want but what we need is here and sometimes I still need to remind myself of that.

• The bug population.  It it is OUT OF CONTROL here in the fine state of North Carolina.  We even had The Orkin Man out spraying the house and trees on our property but there are ants all over and caterpillars and wasps and big gigantic spiders.  I love walking around with out shoes, but here, NEVER!  EVER!
• Just because you call it NY Style Pizza does not make it NY Style in any way! Just STOP!
• Where do you people go for pedicures?  Or pet supplies? Haircuts?  I know, WAL-MART and well there is just no way in hell that I am buying tampons, a kong toy, prescription lenses and a haircut all in one place.  That is wrong in so many ways that I am overwhelmed just thinking of where to begin.
• We do have a nice selection of stores nearby which I should not complain about.  But Target and Kohl’s and Home Depot and Petco are not any of them. I have to drive all the way to Kannapolis which isn’t that far, but it’s far enough and since those are the only stores in the area, they tend to be packed with people no matter when you go.  How do you not have ONE freaking pet store?
• These people talk and talk and talk about THE DROUGHT, yet it has rained almost every other day since we moved here.  Okay, maybe not exactly every other day, but enough.  Shut up about THE DROUGHT!  Talk to me about the drought after the small stream in my backyard dries up!
• It should be a crime to be so nice.  Doesn’t it take a lot of energy to be “on” all the time?  It’s exhausting just participating.

So, after my tirade the other day, Sean spoke with the woman who sold us our house and explained what happened.  He told her outright that we would do everything we could to let anyone who came into this development know what kind of builder they would be dealing with, should they decide to purchase a home here.  I’m sure that didn’t sit well with her, seeing as her pockets would be most effected.  So, she got on the phone with the owner and told him what happened.  Next thing we know, the landscaper and the grader were at our house fixing the grading issue.  At 5pm the door bell rang and Mr. Construction Manager apologized profusely for dismissing me and not taking my situation seriously.  He promised us that everything would be handled and that they would not stop until the issue was resolved to our

satisfaction. 

I was really surprised that Mr. Construction Manager apologized. I have a feeling he didn’t do it by his own volition but his apology did seem sincere and I accepted it and I’m ready to move on.  Overall, our experience has really been great and it saddened me that we had to make threats to get our grading issue fixed.  But whatever works, right?

We hide it.  He finds it. 

 

XXX Group LLC
“Integrity and ethics matter in everything we do. How we treat the people we work with is as important as how we treat our customers.”

We’ve owned our new house now for a little over 5 months.  In those 5 months, we’ve been pretty damn happy with our experience with our builder, XXX Group and their subcontractors.  Any issue we’ve had with something a sub has done, like that chip in the marble around our fireplace, or the few panels of wood flooring that were damaged, have been addressed and fixed to our satisfaction.  Hell, above our satisfaction. XXX Group’s

subcontractors

are phenomenal, as they should be.  I’m sure they want to continue to get business from XXX Group, and therefore, they would be pretty foolish to be anything but great.

Here’s where things get shitty though.  We have a serious grading issue.  On one side of our house there is an empty lot.  On the other side, there is a spec home, which is quite a bit higher (grade wise) than our home.  So, when it rains, even a drizzle, we get a lot of ponding of water on the, red clay (which isn’t grass because we can’t get grass to grow in a fucking pond) lawn as well as

water up against our foundation

.  About a week or two after we moved in, we let the Construction Manager for XXX Group know about the issue.  He promised it would be looked into and fixed.  Weeks later I asked again and he finally got his landscaping company to come and put in this swath of spaghetti like plastic covering, which was supposed to help. I don’t know how that was going to help a small hill miraculously disappear and I said as much but I was met with “This is the first step and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll move to the next step”.

Being the understanding person I am, I choose to accept this and move on with my life.  A month passed and the water was still ponding.  We waited another month, and it still was ponding.  So a week before Easter my husband stopped said Construction Manager in the middle of the road and asked him if we could move on to the “next step” since “first step” fucking sucked.  Construction Manager agreed and said “I know of the issue and we will fix it by putting in a box drain in a few weeks, right after the guy who just purchased the spec home closes on his house” (I found this to be a ridiculous answer but I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I could wait a “few weeks” more).  Sean said okay, no problem, we will wait again.

I found out yesterday that the closing for that house isn’t until the very end of this month.  Much more than a “few weeks”.  Much unacceptable.

So this afternoon I marched my fat ass down to the in-laws, were Construction Manager was “managing” and I asked him why we had to wait until our new neighbor closed on his house…it just did not add up to me.  He immediately copped an attitude and basically said, in not so many words, that my husband was a liar and that he never said we were waiting for the other house to close.

Why would my husband lie?  That makes no sense at all and I think MISTER CONSTRUCTION MANAGER IS THE ONE WHO IS LYING!!!

Our conversation continued, with his condescending tone and self-righteous attitude…and it went a little like this:

Him: Do you think I don’t like you? Do you think this is personal?

Me: I don’t care if you like me or if you have fallen in love with me.  The issue is the water AGAINST MY HOME WHERE MOLD WILL START TO GROW!

Him: It’s not really an issue and we have been more than accommodating.  I could just tell you it’s not my problem and we won’t do anything about it.

(At this point he must think I’m going to back down or that this “threat” to do nothing is going to intimidate me.  Hello, I have worked with more pig headed asshole men in the last 10 years then I can even count.  I’m no sissy girl who is going to run away crying because the big scary man hurt my feelings or raised his voice to me.  That only makes it easier!)

Me: How have you been “more” than accommodating?  My husband had to finish the last job you said you would fix and ya know, I didn’t even complain about it because I pick my battles. And that one, wasn’t a big deal, but MOLD IS A BIG DEAL TO ME!

Him: Well, we came and put in that swath.

Me: YES, TO FIX A PROBLEM THAT YOU ADMITTED WAS A PROBLEM. You are making it sound like you are doing me this huge favor by fixing something that was WRONG SINCE DAY ONE!

Him: Well if the water isn’t standing for more than 48 hours, then it’s not a problem and we don’t have to fix it.

Me: But it is standing for more than 48 hours.

Him: I just checked it and there is just a small puddle.

Me: With water in it?

Him: Yes

Me: And it last rained when?

Him: A few days ago…Saturday.

Me: So, hmmm…was Saturday more than 48 hours ago?

Him: *silence*

Me: What else have you been “more” than accommodating about? hmmm, what else, what else? Where have you gone above and beyond?

Him: I never said we went above and beyond.

Me: No, no you didn’t say those exact words, but you made it sound like you have gone above and beyond when we have called you about TWO issues.  One, this grading issue and two, the fact that you put our sprinkler head in THE MIDDLE OF THE CONCRETE SIDEWALK WHERE LITTLE CHILDREN RUN OVER IT WITH THEIR BICYCLES!  And you didn’t even complete that job since my husband had to go out yesterday and finish it by removing the wood around the new concrete and laying down sod.  Am I really being that unreasonable?

Him: Well it’s not my fault that the subcontractor I hired didn’t finish the sidewalk issue.

Me: WHAT?  How is that not your problem?  I didn’t hire Dick’s Concrete and Landscaping.  I hired XXX Group.  It’s not my problem that YOUR subcontractor didn’t do the job right.  Obviously you knew they didn’t complete it and YOU DID NOTHING ABOUT IT!  I own my own business Mr. Construction Manager and if I sub out something and it’s not done correctly, I’m still responsible. 

Him: Listen, I’ve looked at the side of the house and I’ve had the owner come out and look at it with me (which I also think is a lie because I have a dog who barks his tiny little head off at the sign of a person 8 houses away, I think I would know if someone was standing right next to our house and since ya know, we work from home and we are here every single day I think I might notice a few joe’s walking around) and we don’t think there is a problem but we’re going to fix it.  It will be taken care of this week.

Me: Well you could have said that 10 minutes ago.

And I walked away.  And as I walked away he laughed, a snickering little condescending laugh that just made my blood boil, but I kept on the high road and walked on back home without ever looking back.

I know why they are fixing it.  My in-laws told them flat out that they would not close on their house until their son’s home was not surrounded by a moat on one side. Because I am sure, that after our conversation today, Construction Manager would rather mince his left nut than fix our drainage problem.  But ya know, I just don’t care.  I’ve been nice.  I’ve waited.  I’m done.  Fix it, or deal with the wrath, that

will

surely come!

XXX Group LLC
“Integrity and ethics matter in everything we do. How we treat the people we work with is as important as how we treat our customers.”

So, I have to admit something to all of you.  When I first heard about the pregnant “man” I was so excited!  What a break through…did mad scientists finally create an artificial womb that could be implanted into a man and produce a viable baby? 

If so, PLEASE SIGN US UP!

But alas, the “man” was at one time a woman and I can’t say the same for my husband.  He was born with a penis and nothing is going to change that.

So, my little bit of hope that quickly appeared, has vanished just as fast. 

And on the topic of this “pregnant man”, I really don’t know why it’s news.  He has a uterus.  He has female parts.  Of course he could get pregnant. 

The media really knows how to cause a frenzy with headlines.  In actuality, the headline should have read “Pregnant

Transgender

Male” and then I would never have gotten my hopes up that I would not have to endure morning sickness and swollen everything and labor.  Not that I’m pregnant anyway, but still.  Don’t tease a girl like that!

Yeah, so, the entry I just wrote is GONE!!

HOW IS THAT FOR AN UPDATE?

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! *cough* FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! ASSHOLE!