Better late than never....

I keep thinking...oh, I need to do a post. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months and before you know it, you are trying to figure out where the entire year went!

The summer was incredibly hectic. Between May and October, we have fostered 27 kittens! Some of them come to us very healthy...some not so much. 25 of them were healthy enough to survive and went on to be adopted into great homes. Unfortunately, not all of them make it - which is very tough on us. About 14 of them came to us extremely feral, completely hissy and biting...they require a lot of extra time and affection. We work very hard for that first purr!! We know once we get that first purr, its game over - we win...lol. Now its only a matter of time.

Every so often you get a kitten coming through that you completely bond with. I can say that out of the 79 kittens we have fostered in the past 2.5 years that there are 6 that I have absolutely bawled like a baby when they left....well...5...Lola didn't go anywhere! ;-) She is still hanging out causing problems and pissing off Peaches' cat Izzy on a daily basis...lol.

We had two little babies for 8 weeks, we got them when they were only 3 weeks old....Felix and Fiona, everyone gets a name! Felix is one of the 6, what a wonderful little guy. Thankfully my husband is able to keep a level head and tell me no, otherwise, I could easily end up the crazy cat lady.

Someone called us about a stray cat they found, so I guess we are getting #80 tomorrow! The vet techs at our vet's office do the medical work and pay for the meds out of our Angel Fund up there that we do fund raisers to support homeless animals (Dr Gowen gives them 50% off all services/costs). Mikey and I feed them and pay to have every single one of them fixed before they go to their new homes. Zero Population Growth!! Kitties get adopted out for $50 dollars, which goes back into the Angel Fund for the next animal.

It's amazing to me the network of people in this are that work with population control for cats. We work with NOAH for getting them fixed and we want so start volunteering for the the Feral Cat Project. In the last decade, these two groups alone have spayed/neutered 80,000 cats. This doesn't count any other groups or vets, so the problem is huge....but comes down a tiny bit every year. We will keep doing our little piece for as long as its needed, its without a doubt my favorite way to volunteer!

Let me know if you know anyone who needs a kitten!

Purrs and warm sunspots to all!
Frankie

Missing my boys

1. My son is gone and his situation is not working as he had hoped. He is trying to make this work for Madison.  I've never seen him so miserable. 
2. My husband is living in terrible conditions. Sleeping on a top bunk in a tent with 20 men and sometimes doesn't even have water for a shower.  He works 12+hours/day, 7 days/week.  
3. I still struggle with the loss of my dog... every single day.

I do NOT struggle with living alone. My husband likes to brag that he continues to make me self sufficient.  I struggle with the death of my best friend and the fact that my other boys are living in such miserable conditions. I can't help Spenser or Roger and I can't bring Ripley back. I have none of them to distract me from the loss of any of them.

Here I sit in this big house.  From the outside I look like I'm living the American Dream, but I've lost both my mamma's boys and my husband lives in a war zone.

I'm very thankful for what I have, and have little reason to complain. I just deal better with distraction... and really how many gallons of canned foods can I really eat?

Proud Mama

Well, it is official, the first Snell of the next generation has started school! He was so excited for today and I was so nervous (yep, even shed a few tears)...never thought I would be like that. My biggest problem was the riding the bus part. I was just so scared that he would not make it, or get off to early or something like that. My mother felt the need to remind me that children have been riding buses for years and they have this down, and to that I answered "Ya, well not with my baby they haven't!" LOL

All styled up and ready to go!

The Star Wars back pack I had to search to find

Standin outside his school

Hangin his bag in his locker!

Gettin off the bus for the first time!

Anyways, he did great, loved it all and got home safe. He even came home and told me that some kids were not very good and they did not listen as well as he did LOL........I cant believe this day got here so quickly and my baby is no longer a baby...

No one uses this anymore???

WELL... here's what been going on with me!

I got a new job with Whole Foods at the coffee bar and specialty dept. It's awesome and much less stressful than Tullys, and I work with awesome people. The discount is nice too :)

School is going good. Start my first full time quarter in a few weeks. Visited Seattle Pacific University last week. Trying my best to transfer there next fall to double major in Fashion Design and Merchandising. Theyre the only school in the area that offers a Bachelors program for it, let alone a double major! If i can keep my head on straight i'd like to minor in Exercise Science, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself just yet. AND they have awesome study abroad programs. Super excited.

Things are awesome at home, getting stuff paid off like I wanted to, I'm about halfway there! I'm lucky to have and awesome family that I actually get along with now.

Let's see, this year I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, that was, interesting. Then I got to go to Kona in May. SO awesome. My trip to DC in June was great. I forgot how much I love Aunt Bob and Spencer. LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU! Had an AMAZING TIME. Just got back from Spokane to see everyone there. Gave up my favorite couches to my sister, it was a little heartbreaking, but theyre being put to much better use there!

I'm thinking about doing this race called the Warrior Dash in a few weeks, but everyone seems to be bailing on me. I'm running my first 10k the end of the month! Then the half marathon in Nov. Finally battled off my shin splint for the most part and found an awesome running partner! Im trying to get healthy, cause we all know that hitting the bars and fast food spots all the time wasnt doing me any favors! Ps. David is OUT! Has been since March, and I must say, Im a much happier (and healthier) person because of it :)

So thats pretty much my life. Work, school, and running.

Whats new with everyone else???

Trip to Seattle

Cam's head in a brownie mixing bowl :) He helped Gretchen LOL

We got to head over to Seattle for Memorial weekend and it was great to get to see people! We had a ton of fun. We went to the zoo, played tons of Rock Band (well James, Dad and David did anyways, us girls watched like they were nutso), got to see some friends and just relax with Mom, Dad, Peach and David. It rained pretty much the whole weekend, but we didn't let it stop us from being at the zoo for 5 hours or enjoying our trip. Hopefully next time we go back there can be some sunshine though, I want to take the boys to the beach and to Fort Casey!



In other news, I am taking my finals this weekend and I am done till Fall!!! Yea! AND James got a job!!! It is only 20 hours until July, but then it goes full time! We are VERY thankful and know that God has brought this too us just in time for summer. Him getting a job means we get Jon up here for the summer! James' sister is going to fly up with him a visit for a week before she goes home, and we get Jon for 2 months! It will be a long, adventure filled 2 months with 3 boys here, but it will be great for James to see Jon, we have not seen him since we left Tulsa in September.

Elmo's Last Stand

As you all know, my fabulous boy Elmo has been suffering for 4 years now with Feline Lymphocytic Plasmacytic Stomatitis...Stomatitis for short. Its an autoimmune disorder where he is basically allergy to the bacteria on his teeth and in his mouth. Its incurable and kind of like Lupus in humans. Frustrating, painful and chronic - with no successful cures/treatments so far. Sometimes, a full mouth extraction will cure the issue, sometimes not.

We found a vet last summer that has been the first person ever able to put this into remission. We flew to Dallas last summer with him and started their protocol, which was undergoing clinical trials. Unfortunately, my boy has one of the worst cases they have ever seen and he is a fighter when it comes to meds. After being unable to treat him at home, we flew him back to Dallas where he spent an entire month with their team. The staff at this small veterinary office have become like family to us. Trying different combinations of compounding the proprietary blend of pharmaceuticals they have found that work. Different bases, different flavors, powdered...you name it.

After 10 months, we still can't find a way to get the meds in him and keep them in him, he is too stubborn for his own good. His mouth has gotten worse, which makes dosing him even harder as he is in chronic pain. I had a very tearful conversation with my sister a few days ago as I was seriously considering putting him down. I don't ever want to be one of those owners that doesn't do the best thing for their animal, no matter how hard it is for them.

A few hours later, I get a callback from Jim, the chief surgical tech and creator of the new protocol in TX. Here is how awesome the people I have in my life area and how totally blessed I am. After crying through a description of how my boy is doing, Jim says - death is not an option for him. If he ever gets to be too much to handle emotionally, you send him to me and he will live here and we will take care of him. If you want to send him now, we will put him back in bootcamp (he doesn't fight Jim as hard cause he knows its a losing game) for a few months and I will blend some new concentrated formulas. It also might be time to look at doing extractions also.

Long story short, we met with a local dental specialist tonight and Elmo has an appt on Wed for a full mouth extraction and a feeding tube for a few months to get his weight back up and him transferred over to canned cat food. He is a kibble junkie, but it turns out kibble is horrible for cats...and really hard on a cat with a sore mouth. He is down from 12 lbs to 8 and is too skinny. A tube will allow us to dose his meds, give him high calorie canned food and vitamins with no trauma to the mouth and no one chasing him down 2x a day. Good for his mouth, good for his psyche. Not good for my checking account as he now goes from a 7k cat to a 9k cat - but he is my son, and he is only 5.

Wish us luck, as this is really and truly our last Hail Mary play...and I love him far too much to see him go yet. And Sissy...thank you so much for the moral support the other day - it was a very bad day and you made it so much better.

Snell Canoe War

Erika and I were paddling trying to find water in an old Indian canoe...

It's all fun and games until someone stands up in the canoe!

Then the war was on.

Harley training

I've been out on my bike a few times now.

I'm happy to report its going better.  Not so close to a panic attack, I even put on about 30 miles and got it up to 55 last weekend.

This bike is much bigger than it looks with my ass on it - it weighs 780 pounds.

Erika had been riding with Roger so I decided to let her try it out.  I had just had her in the parking lot with the Z talking about how to use a clutch - so I thought we had a shot.

It ended badly.  She will go down as the first to lay the bike down, but we had her in the grass and she didn't hurt anything.  She only got about 10 feet.  It's not so easy for us remedial students.

Maui baby!!

Mikey and I took some desperately needed time away and headed down to Maui for a week of R&R. We took our traveling buddies Clarence & Lynn with us as we prefer to travel with live entertainment whenever possible! The weather was in the 80's all week, but winter brings more severe tradewinds and winds got up to a pretty steady 50 MPH. This made for extremely choppy waters and forced the canceling of the side trip to snorkel the Molokini crater. The water was bad enough that almost 1/4 of the people on our catamaran were seasick, which was the most they had ever seen. We saw tons of humpback whales, even saw a mom and her calf with an escort pod! There was a lot of breaching and tons of blowholes and a pack of spinner dolphins with them, which the whale foundation had never seen them together like that.

More posts and pics later!!

Unsuccessful lick

This is what happens when you can't reach them anymore!

Main Photo Jan 10 - Mar 28

Request granted

As requested, I have returned all comments but the last two.

Comments please

Ok, I would like comments back now (just delete the ones we don't want), because I want to know if that things actually tasted like pasta? I mean come on! I have heard a lot of people say is it good though, that they use it in lasagna and such...and how did you cook the thing? I think I might give it a try...maybe.... :)

On another note, I am forehead deep in homework and final prep, but will be able to relax when Friday is over. I took one final yesterday and got a 96% on it! Whoo Hoo! I am turning in a final paper tonight, and I take another final tomorrow. Then, my last final, which is actually 4 small, easy to write papers, is due next Wednesday. The last few days have been busy for me with catch up homework, finishing the paper and doing what ever extra credit I can. I will be glad for a week and a half break before next quarter starts up.

The boys are great...most of the time LOL. They have their moments when I want to injure them and Cam is getting quite the little attitude on him, and I am not sure where he gets that at all ;). Mason is in Tae-Kwon-Do and loving it! He is also doing well in school, although we are going to have to pay attention to him through the summer because he is showing a few signs that may be worrisome for possible dyslexia, such as writing his name backwards and the inability to recognize most letters still. We are not to concerned yet, as most diagnosis are not even contemplated till 5 1/2 or 6, so they said to work with him over the summer and see how he does at the start of Kindergarten...which I registered him for last week! I cannot believe how fast he has grown!

James is still job hunting, but with my school money and unemployment we are making it through fine, but a job would be nice, even though it is fun having him home because we get a lot of time to do things as a family. We have kept ourselves pretty busy in this beautiful weather by playing outside a lot and visiting our local parks. Well, I think that is it from this side of Washington for now. Hope everyone is well!

Faux Pasta

My nutritionist insisted that I try this spaghetti squash in place of real pasta.

As I look at her I say “You want me to use squash instead of noodles!?” “You must be kidding”.

So – I tried it. I stomped around like a two year old shaking my head. I did not want to like this, and I couldn’t even imagine why someone would even suggest this crap to me.

So you cook this damn mellon like thing, and then pull out the "noodles".

Even with all my doubt and foot stomping … I liked it. It was actually really good.

My OCD 5year old

Well, I think I found something for Mason to do that is really going to work for him! I found a community Tae-Kwon-Do class, that is only 2-cans a month (cost) to take him to and it is twice a week. I took him last night, and although he was hesitant to start, because it was a very large group, he did great! Once he got into it, and they started the punches and kicks he was awesome. He just picked a bigger kid to watch and copied everything they did. He may not have been doing everything right, but he was trying hard, and having a blast. I was so proud of him, he kept looking at me a grinning, and he cannot wait to go back! I think the fact that it is so structured, repetitive, and is done a certain way, has him thriving, because as crazy as he is, he has A LOT of OCD tendencies (thank you mom for that, because I am actually sure that is where he and I both get it from) LOL.

also...

as for the yard nick and i do know a lot about Yard work as we told bob in the beginning and yes we did not rake but we did mow all year long. nick and i aren't used to raking but to say it is a half assed job is absurd i spent all day raking up in the rain trying not to tear up the grass. sorry if we did not keep the yard up to your standards.

ok...so first let me clear up the reason my dad (wrongly) called you up and yelled. he shouldn't have and i was not happy he did that. you may not have realized it, but you and mikey were continously saying "you need to figure out if you still want to live there" over and over. and in a tone that was demeaning. i'm sure it was not intentional, but it was quite upsetting and we felt pressured to leaving after we had just moved in.
as for the issues we were supposed to address when we moved in. it was all paint - that nick took care of to the best of his advantage. we kept getting the wrong paint, or couldn't find the paint, etc. he took care of all of that. he even got aunt bob a deal on the kitchen/living room/dinning room area (although it took longer than we anticipated) we did maintain that house to the best of our knowledge. i would like to know what we didn't fix? nick put up wallpaper boarders, replaced a knob in the bathroom...what else did we have on our list?
as for the dogs...aunt bob knew when we first moved in that we had two dogs. we had not kennelled them in a long time. creo hasn't been kenneled since she was a puppy and rocco hadn't been kenneled for almost a year. we have that big kennel, but it hasn't been used in ages. we did not know when we moved in the dogs would have to be kenneled or something to that extent. or else we wouldn't have moved in. plain and simple. i dont' recall anyone offering to buy something for the garage, but i do remember that being a suggestion. it's cold in there and my dogs are little. it made me nervous.
i think we all agree that nick should have done the trim a long time ago. he does too. however he never lied to aunt bob and told her that it was done. before those real estate agents came over he had told her it would be done the week after. now i guess she heard him wrong, but i was there when he told her.
as for the moving out date...i was emailing aunt bob telling her when we were moving out that things were not compeletely done. that's the second time i've heard this comment and am very confused. we were emailing back and forth and i told her i would TRY to get the cleaning done. but i also said that if it wasn't done then, we would do it next weekend.
so let me try to clear up what happened with the cleaning...first of all aunt bob i did not hang up. nick's phone cut out. however, i was close to hanging up because we called and were immediately being yelled at and some of it didn't even make sense. saying that we had told her that when we moved out we the house was ready...never happened.
so my dad came over to help move and decided the paint was not ready. he wanted to help nick fix it and they started the next day, thinking it would be a couple of hours and that's it. when they realized it wasn't, they called aunt bob who said fix what you started and leave it. so nick spent the next week going over after work trying to fix it. by the time the weekend came we had a small window of time to clean carpet, not clean. we had had every intention of cleaing that house. my mom, nick, and myself were prepared to do just that. now i did say the fridge was cleaned out, because i thought you meant food items. that is correct.
if anyone had asked us to get back over there and clean it, we would have. i dont' think a phone call saying we were taking advantage of someone was warranted. honestly nick and i wrongly misinterepreted the whole "cleaning lady" thing.
and now the trim...yes nick gave aunt bob a deal on installing it and materials. and he offered to try to paint it. and it took him a while to get around to it. but once he realized it wasn't going to look good (about TWO MONTHS) before we moved out he told aunt bob he didnt' like it and wanted to get a professional in to do it. she didnt' want to. she said "do the best you can" and guess what? he did! he at one point even offered to pay a painter to do it - out of our deposit. so the week before we moved out we were working on the trim day and night. and my dad tried to help but he told aunt bob it could use more time. no one can say that we didn't warn anyone about the trim. and nick said from day one he is not a painter.

Frustrated sister, aunt and property manager

I had to debate for quite some time before I decided how/if I was going to respond to these posts. After much contemplation and counsel, I have decided that I do have some things that need to be said as I feel that I have taken the brunt of these problems.

First of all, although I had no dog in this fight, I am unfortunately the one that got stuck in the middle…of everything. I was asked by my sister when she originally left Seattle to watch over her home and take care of the details of it for her in regards to renters, real estate agents, upgrades and maintenance. A task which I was happy to do, as I wanted to do anything possible to make her transition to her new life a little easier and a little less stressful.

Second of all, I also want to make it very clear before I continue that I do not hate my niece or my newly minted nephew – quite the opposite. I have and will always adore them in the same way that I have through the years, that will not change.

With that being said, I am brought to my first issue…the way my brother presumed that he could speak to me on that fateful afternoon last May. With the love that I have shown Jacqui through the years as my oldest niece, I am beyond pissed and hurt that you would ever think that I would attack/berate that child. Your phone call to me NEVER ONCE asked me what had been said or done. To this day you have never asked me what happened. While I happen to love J & N dearly, I also own a couple of 20 year olds and understand the drama that can be added to a situation. If you think for one second that the conversation that took place at my house involved anything more than a polite problem solving conversation with the same tone of voice that I would use at my dentist’s office to book an appt, then you don’t know me very well at all. And for you to not consider giving me the benefit of the doubt as a grown woman, knowing the drama that the children (all of them) have added to situations in the past is beyond comprehension. Do you really think that if one of my children had come to me complaining about something that you did that I would not have come to you first, trying to understand what had happened? It’s the same way with the teachers at school, the grownups are going to be given the benefit of the doubt if the kids come home complaining about something the teacher did. I deserved the benefit of the doubt as a grown member of this family and especially since nothing in my past labels me as a ranting/raving lunatic at large.

The other point to that is, my sister made me an agent of that house when she left the state and I have been involved in it on every aspect since they have left. Your calling me and asking me why I was involved should have been…why were you involved? Your name wasn’t on the lease and you weren’t an agent of the Snell-Bennett family. A lot of the stress of this situation also stemmed from the fact of you telling your sister 3000 miles away that she wasn’t there to make decisions on her house and that you would basically do what you want with the place, including ripping down moulding and making the decision to replace it at that time without her approval, and over her objections. So the question becomes – who are you to make that decision? Your name wasn’t on the lease and you weren’t left in charge of the decision making at that house, but you used your typical high handed tactics to do whatever you wanted.

As for the way you choose to talk to me, my dear brother…it doesn’t work for me. I have never spoken to you in that manner, and I expect nothing less in return. You don’t discuss a situation….you run it and yell over it so subdue whoever you are talking to and I am pretty much done with exchanges that work in that manner.

My second issue is the actual house and what is being done there. From my understanding, the extremely inexpensive rent that was being charged was going to be offset by some help in fixing the issues at the house that were outstanding when they moved in. J & N were also very aware of the fact that they were going to be living in a house that was going to be on the market. I explained to them when we met the real estate agent over there that the house was going to need to be maintained immaculately to help with the sale. This was not done. They were also unwilling to crate the dogs so that the house could be shown during the day. I am not able to understand why they were perfectly able to crate the dogs when they lived at the apartment, but not at Angie’s house to help speed a possible sale. That May date at my house I tried to problem solve this issue with them and offered to buy a large open dog pen to put in the garage so the dogs would have more room to roam. This was not acceptable either. It was also 5 months after they had moved in and a lot of the little fix it items had not been handled as agreed to either.

In the end, they were paying about 1/6 of the rent they would be paying anywhere else (besides living with the parents) in exchange for some handy work and daily maintenance needed to have a house on the market for showings…and they did not live up to their end of the agreements made.

This brings us to now. Since Nick was not working and Ang could use some work done to the house, an agreement was struck for improvements to the house. Nick quoted a price for work and the bulk of that work was completed in July and the price quoted has been paid by Ang. As of 2 weeks ago, that work had not been completed. I know that Nick and Jason had a falling out 3 weeks ago, but that doesn’t explain why the job wasn’t done during the past 5 months. Ang was under the impression from Nick that the work had already been completed.

Nick asked Ang if they could not pay rent in Jan since they were moving out in the middle of Jan, and Ang said yes. It was assumed when Nick told her that they would be out on the 15^th that they would be completely out, all obligations taken care of. She asked me to start lining up window washers, yard guys and the cleaning lady so the house could go on the market shortly after. No problem. Its not until the 15^th or shortly thereafter that we realize that the jobs she paid for already, are not actually completed and more money is going to be needed to hire someone out for the job. That is when I understand that you stepped in to help.

I spoke to Jacqui and Nick on Tues the 19^th. I told Nick the real estate lady was coming to the house on Sunday and they were taking pics of the house on Tuesday for it to be listed. Nick told me at that point in time that the only things left to be done at the house were cleaning the garage and steam cleaning. Nick knew the cleaning lady was coming Sat afternoon to prep the house to go on the market. I specifically asked Jacqui if they had remembered to clean out the frig, as I wanted to prompt her to remember to take care of the cleaning details they were responsible for. Her answer to me was “yes, we cleaned it out already”. After seeing the frig, I can only assume that she meant they took their stuff out of it, as it is apparent that no one wiped down the inside of the frig at all.

None of the move out cleaning was done, and I assume that since they have moved out of apartments before this one – they understand what needs to be done to get a deposit back. I am not sure why their aunt deserves less consideration of how they leave her home when they vacate it than a faceless landlord would. I doubt that Jacqui would have hung up on a different landlord if they were asking her questions about why the cleaning wasn’t done or would have called her father to intervene. Would you have called an apartment complex to berate the manager there if they were telling you that your child had left the dwelling without cleaning it properly? No, they wouldn’t have even discussed it with you as she is over the age of 18 and entered into a binding legal document with them and is responsible for her own choices. If that had been my child that had left my sister’s house, or your house for that manner, looking like that…I would have marched their happy ass right back over there and told them to handle their responsibilities as they had agreed to them. My intervention does nothing to teach them how to handle their obligations as grownups, it only cripples them as to what to expect in the real world and quite frankly, their low rent saved their independence when Nick lost his job – so I feel that my sister has been more than generous. $300 a month with half of it coming back to them at the end…come on, what a deal.

So now, my sister has had to pay out twice the amount she should have to a cleaning lady to get the house clean enough to sell. Money she should not have had to spend. The basic yard maintenance was not taken care of at the house, all the leaves left on the yard for 4 months have seriously yukked up the grass, not to mention the back deck. The leaves were not even attempted to be taken care of until something was mentioned last week, and then only a half hearted cleanup was done. Again, more money being put out for the yard guys to come do a thorough cleanup instead of just a freshening up. The roof guy took care of the back deck when he pressure washed everything. I am sure that Ang did not expect complete yard maintenance, but I would think mowing and raking would be included in the basics of any tenant agreement. I know that I rented an inexpensive place for 11 years and I took care of the yard, did a lot of maintenance projects and left the house in far better shape than I found it as I was appreciative of the financial burden that I was relieved of while I lived there.

So my issue boils down to this…I didn’t live there, I don’t own it, I didn’t get any financial gain from it, my kids didn’t benefit from it – but I still get to be labeled the bad guy because things have to be taken care of that were agreed to. I will be over there doing the touch up paint from all the overspray, washing the curtains and finding someone to finish the trim paint that is two toned, which will also cost money.

Again, I have never raised my voice to the kids or talked to them in a snotty tone or been accusatory – just tried to ask questions and get answers…so how did I get stuck in the middle?

I was really not sure about posting this on the family blog. Then I thought about it and realized that this is already everyone’s business. No one in the family doesn’t know about this and I want everyone to know the facts as I have been given them. I did not want this to be a case of he said/she said which has happened far too often in this situation. This is everything I know, out in the open so there would be no confusion as to my motives or feelings.

As an afterthought, I typed this last night and was re-reading it before I posted it and just read the family blog and J’s post. Honestly J, after the phone call I got from your father that afternoon – I had no idea what you had said to him that got him so mad. I just know that I had not said anything mean or hurtful to you that day…so I have been unsure what to say to you since then, not knowing what would happen again, since I truly have no clue what happened to start with. I was very disappointed as I know that I had been kind, but apparently, that was not what was conveyed to your father. I have felt like I needed to walk on eggshells after that incident, so it seemed best to tread lightly.

And yes J, I think you’re right…unless we talk about it, it isn’t going to go away. We can pretend it has…but we will all know differently.

first off...dad you don't owe us an apology. we made the decision to move. i can honestly say that i don't know how it got this bad. i just don't. my husband and i had a yelling match with my aunt, i can't even comprehend how that happened. i feel that there has been tension since the misunderstanding with aunt frankie when we first moved in. i can honestly say that since that incident i have never felt welcome in her house. and i feel that my father telling her not to talk to us about the house may have added fuel to this situation, but i don't know. i just don't know if this is all about the house, or a bigger issue.
i am very upset that my aunt feels that we would ever try to take advantage of her. it hurts. nick did a lot to that house out of the kindness of his heart. we all want the house to sell and he was just trying to help. the cleaning issue was something that happened a lot - miscommunication. and we are part to blame. we assumed something and we shouldn't have. we do know that you should clean when you move out of a place, we just misunderstood what was going on with the housecleaner. and for that we are sorry. but this was an issue the entire time we lived there. we would be told one thing and than it would switch, or conversations were remembered differently, or whatever. so it wasn't an excause to get out of something. the time line and the paint situation kept changing and it got confusing.
growing up this family was so close. aunt bob, aunt frankie, you two were like second moms to me and i hate that this is happening. i love both of you very much. i would love to put an end to all of this. so how do we do this? if we just pretend it didn't happen and just not talk about the house are we all still left feeling wronged? will there still be hurt?

We are no different, and it's disappointing.

Did you write all THAT?!? Who typed that for you?
I’m not exactly sure what to say.

Yes, your daughter was against the idea… yes I thought we were different and no I don’t hate my niece or my new nephew.

We can move forward however it’s best – but I am done talking about my house. It no longer matters who’s at fault or what mis-communication there was. There is SO much around this that no-one will ever be happy, and honestly I am unable to wrap my head around much of it right now. What’s done is done, and I wish to end the drama in this family around my house. For this reason we've decided against having Dad come out to fix/finish it for the market.
We appreciate ALL THE work that each and every one of you put into it, and we are now closing the book on that part of our life. We know that many of you spent many hours trying to help. I’m sure we all learned lessons that we will take with us.
I guess we are like anyone else – perhaps we always had these issues, and somehow we were able to avoid them. I think that our children being small is what kept us together. We all lived close, and we had our children in common. Now – we have family spread out and it’s more difficult.

I’m not sure where to start. This is new for me … and I’m still in a bit of shock

The Young Adult Needs To Be Heard!!!

I have chosen this as the title. Seeing Jacqui was against this whole house deal from the start. But we adults always seem like we know best. To her, I owe a big sorry and she did tell me it was a bad idea and I thought I new better than her. I was one of the main adults that pushed her to move into the house. I was in the wrong, she was right. Her biggest worries have now come true.
I have since seen how a family can be rifted by what I consider small things. When left alone even small things, can turn into major problems. I have a wife that really does not want to talk to me. I have an older sister that has not talked to me in like a year. Since I yelled at her. I have a younger sister that has surprised me and now we are having huge problems. My oldest child feels her aunts hate her. So I would call this adventure a disaster.
So how did this all start? Well to be honest it all started by not listening to my oldest child. I really don't want to hash out why we are, where we are. But the rift is there and I am unsure what to do. I think back at how many friends said don't do this and we said we could. Angie said she also thought our family was immune to this kind of trouble. But I guess we have all learned a lot the hard way.
So my question to the family is this. Do we want to fix the rift or do we want to just let sleeping dogs sleep. That is really the only concerns I have at this time. We can hash out who is at fault or not. But is that's what you want, then we will create a larger problems. I had planned to write something a little different. But after much thought I feel this is the correct path to take.
So what is it you want? This is the chance to say it.
Kerry???
Angie???
Roger???
Frankie???
Jacqui???
Nick???

Roger due home Tomorrow

Roger is due in tomorrow morning.
As you might imagine, I've had a long few weeks, and am looking forward to him being home.

While this was not our plan, this is what our family needs right now.  It's not just the loss of Ripley, but we are also dealing with some other stresses.

Roger will be home for at least 3 months, and our hope is that he ONLY returns on his terms for a large promotion.  However what happens to us at the end of that 3 months is totally up in there.  It could involve more of the same - or a move to almost anywhere.  Much of it depends on the house in Snohomish.

name change

it's official, my last name is now Trent. i'm still a snell at heart though! it's frusterating all the different agencies you have to go to and everyone you have to contact!
getting ready to move into our new apartment on saturday (even though i will be at work for some of it...)! very excited since it's very close to work and it's pretty cute and appears quiet. nick, cory, and i have been working on the trim and it's (finally! almost done) and nick starts work on monday. he was offered a job at a drywall/finishing carpentry company with only about one month of work guaranteed and hopefully more to come. the boss told him he would see what he could do about keeping him on. at this point we will take anything we can get. he filled out paperwork on monday, worked a few hours today and has to do some stuff tomorrow. don't know about friday yet; but like i said, monday he should be working full time. i know he's happy to be working again. now we have to start looking into more cop stuff for him :)
keep us in your thoughts!
love you all,
the trents :)

Serves you right Aunt Bob! ;)

So, I was looking at all the back posts looking for the pictures in the blog and I came across a post from Aunt Bob last year...one that pictured her 2 lonely snow shovels during winter last year when we were all slammed...well, can we all just say "HA!" That should teach you (probably wont though), to mock those with the snow, because it comes back to bite you in the arse! We have had hardly anything this year... Guess your poor shovels got to make up for last year this year!

A Snell tongue lashing

Who do you think is getting yelled at the most here ....

Dad, Spenser or Jacqui?

Main Photo Dec 16 - Jan 10

Oh I missed the hopes

I missed the "hopes" section.
Somehow I read goods and bads.

I'm not full of hope right now.

But I can think of these.

1. Sell the Snohomish house
2. Get my husband home to stay
3. Help my son continue on the right road of life.
4. Is asking for HGS stock to hit 50 too much?

Ok, my turn...

Best things about 2009...
1. Meeting James
2. Going back to school
3. Finally deciding to live my life for me and my boys, not caring what others think about it
4. Watching my babies grow and learn

Hopes/goals for 2010...
1. Finishing more school
2. Digging my family out of debt
3. Getting to see everyone in my family at some point throughout the year
4. Loose weight, so i can fit into mom's wedding dress next year,
5. Just in general a more successful/productive year than last year was for me

....I think that is it for now...whos next?

back from vegas!

tried to make a big post about vegas but it all got erased for some reason so go look at our pictures on facebook, because i'm not retyping all that!
love and miss you all
jacqui trent

2009 in Review

Okay, I'll start (cause Whitney didn't actually do it).

The Good Times

1. Getting to see you all in Seattle.  Getting to see how Mason had grown, and meeting Camden.
2. Giving my husband his motorcycle for his 50th B-day.
3. Helping to make Spenser's Europe trip come true, and watching him explore the World.
4. Watching Ripley and Ollie finally play together.

The Bad Times.

1. Obviously losing my boy, Ripley.
2. ... and be without my husband for another year.

Next to those two things.... everything else is minor.