* A term borrowed from my Vox peep Kzinti

• Texas has 284 counties.  Why is this relevant?  Because I had to assign a metro area (big city) to each one of them.  Thank goodness for Google Maps. 
• I have a feeling that the 'wrongful termination' lawsuit against Chris and our boss has been dropped.  Especially since she sent Chris an e-mail thanking him for firing her, she is being charged with insurance fraud, she is being sued for identity theft, and then there is this little matter here.
• Fish sticks and Macaroni 'n cheese make a good lunch.
• I wish it would rain more---this drought is making my yard entirely too crunchy.  I haven't had a nice green lawn in years.  Although it is saving us gas money as Chris doesn't have to mow if the yard is dead.
• I LOVE this house: more than I love this house but there are cracks in the foundation and on some of the walls.  Since Chris's folks just paid several grand for foundation work that doesn't seem to be working (the interior cracks have come back twice since the foundation was 'fixed' he refuses to even consider a house with that kind of damage....even if we had an industrial engineer come out and inspect it.  ~sigh~
• School starts in just 13 days and I have not bought a single supply.
• This house could potentially be shown in just two days and I still have to finish cleaning/decluttering my office and the pantry, the windows all need washed, I need to move the Dragon out of the kitchen and into my office, and we need to finish up the landscaping.  Wish us luck.
• Chris leaves for India early Monday morning.

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I'm tired all the time.  I wake up tired and I go to bed exhausted.  I fight to stay awake at my job in the afternoons and if I ever sit on the couch for more than fifteen minutes I find myself dozing off.

I eat semi-healthy. 
I take daily vitamins and supplements.
I average eight hours a sleep a night.
Caffeine is kept to a minimum (one cup flavored coffee and maybe one soda a day).

And I'm still tired.  On weekends if there isn't a reason to get up in the morning I find myself sleeping until 10 or even noon.  Even on days I sleep until noon I go to bed at 10 and fall asleep right away.

It seems that the more time passes the more tired I get and I have no energy.
I have trouble concentrating and staying on task. 
I am so easily distracted.
I lose my train of thought.
I am easily irritated.

This has been building all summer and I'm just tired of being tired.

And I know there was more I wanted to share in this post but I've forgotten what it was. 

~sigh~

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Totally Terrible Tuesday Things:

• Snakes in my yard
• HOT weather
• The neighbor's financing fell through
• Being HOT
• Chris being rude to me.
• Sweating
• Did I mention HOT?  What about triple digit temps?

Totally Terrific Tuesday Things:

• This house.
• More house hunting
• School starts in two weeks and one day!

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This morning we are outside wandering around showing off our cool property to Sue, our real estate lady. It is the hottest day of the year and the yard is crunchy it is so dry. I happen to look toward the muscadine vines and I see this HUGE snake skin laying in my yard. I gasp loudly and hide behind Jordan ('cause I'm brave like that.)

Chris is all: "Ooohhhh and ahhhh."
Sue is "I'm so glad you saw it, because if I had I would have had a heart attack."
Jordan is laughing at me.
I'm standing there like an idiot saying: "But, I declared this a snake free zone!!"
Chris picks the skin up and it is really big....then we notice that part of the skin broke off down in the hole the snake went into. Yay. There is a huge @ss damn snake living in the ground between the house and the muscadines and blueberries. I'm freaking out and can not stop myself from scanning the brown crunchy grass for a huge snake.
Chris is all: "It's under ground keeping cool"
I'm all: "It could be hiding in the muscadines keeping cool and looking for something to eat."
Chris is all: "You don't know anything about snakes."
I shut up (Not because he's right, but because I'm not going to argue with him about snakes in front of Sue.)
Jordan is trying to get Baron to sniff the skin, play with the skin, or something....Baron took one whiff and proceeded to tuck tail and try to run. (Smart dog)

After Sue leaves I grab the camera and go to take some pictures....because I really and truly am trying to get over this phobia.
This snake is at least four feet long...I know this because Jordan is almost five feet and there was several inches of skin left down in the hole.

Jordan Snakeskin

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Curb appeal does matter:
Unfortunately the way the neighbor has his/her property matters, too.  Junk cars and unkempt yards ARE a deterrent.

Do's

• Dust
• De-clutter the closets
• Wash the windows, especially if they are not covered by window treatments
• Sweep/vacuum
• Make sure your house does not stink
• Weed the landscaping
• Clean the carpet of the multiple dog poop stains
• Make the house light and bright.
• Make your bed as neat as possible.
• Clean the baseboards
• Make sure the showers are clean and not growing black stuff (mold?)

Don'ts

• Leave the dead cockroaches on the floor
• Try to cover the water stains on the ceiling with fresh paint while leaving the rest of the ceiling alone
• Leave your dog loose and alone in the electric fenced back yard---if you feel the dog needs and electric fence to stay put, then I don't feel comfortable checking out the back yard.  If I don't look in the back yard---I'm not buying your house.
• Leave candles burning---they are an obvious sign that you are trying to cover the bad smell in your house.
• Leave the house dark and dim----I don't want to live in the dark and you make me wonder what you are trying to hide by not having the lights on.

All of that being said, I have some work to do on my house before it is shown for the first time.  The realtor is coming today to sign us up, we'll have to send the paperwork to my parent's for them to sign---it is possible that the house may be shown as early as this Saturday.

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Life has decided to kick us in the teeth again.

The neighbor was unable to get financing for the house.

Looks like we will be finding a real estate company and going that direction.

Oh, and the "check engine light" came on in our car.  It's still under warranty, but the closest dealer is over 90 miles away.

Life sucks.

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What is the biggest lie you've told?
Submitted by lazywong.

I answered a question: "No" when the real answer was: "Yes"

I might share the question if anyone wants to know.  But, I'm not blindly putting it out there for everyone to see if no one cares.

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Scene:  Trish is in her office working and thinking that Chris is in the family room working, too.  In reality Chris is racing on-line with his BlueTooth thingie hooked up so he can talk with the other racers.

The phone rings and Trish answers the phone.  It is an automatic recording talking about how they've been pre-approved for a mortage.  Trish, knowing that they are in the market for a mortgage and a new home, walks out of the office into the family room talking as she is walking.

Trish: "Hey, do we already have a mortgage company?"
She is cut off by Chris with a sharp:  "SSHHHH!!!" 
It is then that she realizes he isn't working, but he is playing.

Feeling hurt and mad she hangs up on the recording and goes back to her office to resume work.

When Chris is done with his race, he takes off his ear piece and comes into the office to assure Trish that they already have a mortgage company, but because they filled out the application on-line they will be getting many of those types of phone calls.  They only need to talk with and deal with Ben.  Chris then goes back to play, leaving Trish to finish her work day.

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How do you choose your Vox neighbors and friends?
Submitted by gcgal.

If I ever have an opportunity to be a bit bored, then I check out the 'explore Vox' feature and I read some posts based on how much the title of the posts interests me.  If the post interests me and piques my interest in the author, then I read more of what they've written in the past.  I usually leave at least one comment to let them know I've been there.  If they have interesting things to say then I add them as a neighbor. 

I have very very few 'friends' as I am pretty much an open book.  I chose my 'friends' by how much we've interacted between our blogs and the PM's (if any) that had ever been exchanged.  I chose my friends carefully as when I need to make a 'friend only' post, then there is something serious going on in my life and I need input from some body that I feel I can truly trust---and someone that isn't involved in my day to day real life.

All of my neighbors are special and I treasure each and every one of them.  I'm glad they are a part of my 'hood and I hope they are happy to 'know' me as well.

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Totally Terrible Tuesday Things:

• Finding the PERFECT house----only to find out it is in a bad school zone.
• sunburns
• Not enough time to do all that needs to be done
• blueberries (gallons and gallons to be picked)
• It seems like the longer the summer is the thinner OC gets
• Darcy is still shedding---profusely
• Still gaining weight
• Lack of sleep
• School starts in three weeks---do I buy all of the supplies on the list, or try to 'get by' until we move?  Do I make him get a hair cut so the vice principal will stay off his back---or do I let him leave it long as the new school system doesn't have hair length requirements: which would leave me to deal with the VP until we got moved.

Totally Terriffic Tuesday Things:

• Having on offer on the house which is causing most of the issues listed above
• blueberries (gallons and gallons to be picked)
• Realizing that we can afford a bigger house than we expected (on paper anyway)
• the possibility of a fenced in back yard or maybe even a pool!
• LIfe in general----I suppose

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