Update #6 - Summer from Hell

Like I said before, this summer has been NUTS. A few of the good, the bad and the ugly updates:

Day-to Day: Work has been NUTS. Mr S and I are so busy - it's a good thing, but it's exhausting too. The other bad thing about being so busy, is not being able to take a little time off and actually take a real vacation. Oh, well...always next year, right?

Flood Fighting: This has got to be the most covered up National Disaster ever. Since the end of May, the whole Missouri River area has been in a flood fight. And why is it covered up? BILLIONS of dollars in lost crops/income, damaged homes/farms, destroyed infrastructure and where places weren't damaged - MILLIONS were spent fighting the flood with new berms/levees, sand bags, pumps, assessment teams and so many other things. Our family was directly affected in many ways including: longer commutes to work since I-29 and I-680 were inundated (and subsequently obliterated) - now instead of getting to work in 40-45 mins - it takes Mr S and I at least an hour to get to Omaha (if we're lucky - it's more like 1.25 hrs or more); I was put on flood watch at work and was required to go to Council Bluffs DAILY at 5:15 AM to track levee assessments/incidents - it was really tough, but as of last Friday, I'm done - I'm SO NOT seeing 4:30 am again for a VERY LONG time. I'm also working on another flood fighting project at our nuclear station - it's really interesting, but I hope not ever have to do this in our area ever again (if I have to travel somewhere else because I now have that experience, fine, but I'll be part of the mob that goes after the COE if they ever flood us again; we were also told that Mr. S's house in the Valley "might" flood, in fact the stupid Army Corps of Engineer's predicted that we would have 4-8 ft of water there! So our stupid renter moved out and left us a HUGE mess and we couldn't get another in with that kind of forecast. What a mess...Probably the only good thing that came out of it was seeing how resilient and how self-sacrificing so many people were. As sucky as it was to work so early in the morning, I was blown away daily by the employees with the City of Council Bluffs at their dedication to their citizens and humbleness to help out how ever they all could.

So sad - so environmentalists, should the stupid birds have their nests (because it's not like they can't adapt or anything) or people lose more homes?

In case you can't read this sign, it's says "Ski Area" - they do not mean water ski...

I-680 in early June - water creeping towards the road.

What my commute looks like now :(

Off of Hwy 30 (my current crappy commute to Omaha) - So more people didn't do this....

...the DOT installed these. As grateful as I am that they saved 1route - I REALLY wish they would have fought harder for I-29 and I-680

When we did lose the good route, I just figured the water would go over the road, the water would recede, they'd do some clean up, and I'd get my commute back...um no.... 

This is now I-680

Close up

I-29 fared a little better, but what a mess of algae, railroad ties, trees and other debris.

Rental House: So, like I said, our previous tenant moved out as soon as the flood was announced (skipped town with unpaid rent and other things), but that wasn't the worst of it. The WORST of it was that they were DISGUSTING, MESSY people. We SO wanted this stupid house to flood. Obviously we didnt want other's to lose their home, but we had the flood insurance - we were SO ready to take the flood money and bulldoze the place. Our wishes didn't come true, so mid-July we all went to try to restore the house. The first battle was to clean all of the possessions out of it - they left SO much crap! We more than filled a large dumpster we had delivered - I couldn't believe it. Once we got all the crap out, we all started scrubbing, it was a good example for kids though and they got to see why I'm so anal about a cean house. Even after a full day of work, it still needed SO much more. We had the carpets cleaned, patched holes and were finally able to find a renter that traded a deposit for additional clean up, painting, etc, but the sucky thing is that they're already moving out (weird people).
Ex: I don't even know where to start with this stupid psycho. Let's start with her controlling behavior. Mr S is still pushing for more time with his kids and she still refuses. The ONLY time she ever offered to negotiate was on the Twin's b-day. Mr S always gets them because it's his birthday too, they each get the kids out their birthday (not the kids). So she threw out that she would negotiate if she could see the boys, he wanted to know what she was going to negotiate at first, but instead she flipped out and wouldn't make any offers, SO she didn't get to see them (we're SO cruel, I know - yeah right!).

So, she's also pregnant now - Ugh! The boys are SO excited, but although they don't see it, they're in for a world of hurt when their stupid mom has this retarded child. They won't be her "babies" any more - with a new child she won't be able to do all she does with them now. In some ways I'm looking forward to it so they'll see her for who she is, but it sucks they may have pain.

She continues to try to run things in MY house and I'm SICK of it. LMS decided to make a big step and ask Mr S to adopt her. It was so sweet...

Mr S and she had a talk about her reasons for this (of the top 5, three of them are: because she can't just forgive her dad for what he's done, she wants someone who's always there for her and Mr S is, and because then her last name will be the same as one of her best friends - gotta love her!). So they made the decision that they will take this slow and make sure it's really what she wants. While I was traveling for work this week and he was here alone with the girls, he had another conversation with her to let her know he hadn't forgotten her request, but she replied she didn't want it anymore. He blew it off that she's an 8 year old flakey girl, but I just couldn't leave it alone since we had had a few discussions and was so adament about it before. At first she wouldn't tell me and then she said she and TS2 and her had gotten in an aurgument about the adoption with him saying "their mom said" it was the boy's decision and he didn't want her as his sister! To wrap up the aurgument, he also told her that the only sister he wants is the one his mom "might" be pregnant with. God I was SO ticked. Not so much at TS2, but the fact that their mom wants to insert herself so much in MY daughter's lives. And SHE'S a social worker!!! You would think she'd be all for children getting/having great parents - ugh! I called Mr. S right away and he spoke to the twins about it and set them straight. What would you do? How do I get this shitty woman out of my life?

So, these are just a few things we've done this summer...what a year!