Drama Kid is being a bit of a brat lately and it's totally killing my holiday spirit buzz. I've been a cookie baking fool this week and have two more batches left today. I thought some Christmas music would help restore my inner peace and harmony but even at the highest volume, I couldn't hear iTunes on our PC all the way upstairs let alone over the mixer.

Not having any speakers for my iPod, I came up with a totally ghetto solution and dragged out the boombox my uncle gave me when I was 14.


The picture does not do this justice. This thing is big and heavy! But, even after 21 years it still rocks the bells (Holy shit! Now I feel old).

My Husband Got Shit For His Birthday

For the past several years, we seem to have been under a "when it rains, it pours" cloud that only seems to dump on us in November and December. The day before Drama Kid's first birthday the nanny we had at the time quit with no notice. A few days after that the owner of our apartment put it on the market giving us one month to move out or buy. Then Drama Dad totaled his truck. In the years since, Drama Dad has been laid off of two jobs, cars have needed major repairs and I lost my job. Happy Holidays!

This year, we thought we'd escaped the downpour and spoke too soon. Last Saturday we were deciding where to go for hubs' birthday dinner when the shit hit the fan. Literally. One of the downstairs toilets has been stopping up fairly often the past few weeks. I was on the computer and Drama Kid used the loo next door. I could tell by the sound that it was in danger of overflowing. I'm now an expert at overflow stoppage and was able to avoid any spills.

Drama Dad hauled out the plunger again and went to work. And then he said "we're going to need a plumber," and I could swear I heard our credit card commit suicide and plumbers all over the city mark up their "weekend emergency service" prices.

I went into the bathroom and saw this:

You can thank me later for not getting a closer shot. Know what's worse than a bathtub full of shit? Two bathtubs full of shit! Where is Mike Rowe when you need him?


And those baskets on the floor? The ones full of toiletries that used to fit in the master bathroom cabinets at our last apartment but not our house? Yep, they were in the tub. Hubs went to get the phonebook and I tried to stifle my gag reflex and breathe through my mouth.

Roto Rooter arrived, opened up the clean out drains and sent down a snake ($125). The snake made it far enough to relieve the pressure and allow the tubs to drain, but there was still a blockage. We agreed to the extra charge to have a camera sent in (condo colonoscopy) and fully expected them to remove broken toy parts or evidence of some of Drama Kid's mischief. But the diagnosis was worse: tree roots had broken through the pipe. The new estimate? $650. Happy Birthday honey!

After I regained consciousness I was all prepared to start returning the few Christmas presents I've bought and find a way to hock some jewelry when our neighbor came over and asked if we were having plumbing problems.

We got him up to speed on what Roto Rooter had said and done so far then went door to door to ask if anyone else was having problems too but everyone was out. We asked the Rooter man to hold off on anymore work until we called the HOA since the blockage was more than 50 feet from our house. Birthday dinner and Christmas are saved!

To make a long, shitty story short, the HOA is responsible for the repairs and they will reimburse us the $325 we spent. It took much scrubbing before I would even think about taking a shower. My hands smelled like bleach until yesterday which is totally preferable to the alternative!

What about you? Do crises seem to happen to you all at once? Have you ever had a bathtub full of poo?

My Son's Favorite Christmas Song Yo

Run-D.M.C. - New Music - More Music Videos

Online Privacy

It sometimes seems like a contradiction in terms that, as bloggers, we want to maintain some semblance of privacy. Many of us use our names, have our pictures and our families' on our blogs and a give a general idea of where we live.

We talk about the details of our lives, often very intimate details. Some bloggers put it all out there, which is their choice. I've tried to keep some identifying personal details off the blog mostly for the sake of my son. But, what to do when an interesting opportunity comes along that crosses over the boundaries you've set up?
The Drama family was recently interviewed for a newspaper article about the economy and its impact on a couple's decision to have or have more children. It was published in print and online yesterday. Having worked for a newspaper I knew our last names would be in the article but since the paper is not in San Diego I wasn't too concerned.

But, this morning a producer for a local TV station called out of the blue asking if we'd like to be part of a similar story with a more localized focus. I agreed and asked how they found me since I hadn't provided any contact information, let alone my home phone number.

She found me through ZabaSearch. I've heard of the site before but I guess I was in a state of "ignorance is bliss" because since no one has ever contacted me using it before now that must mean no one is looking for me, right? [ETA: My ZabaSearch results gave my name, address (fortunately not our current), home phone and year of birth. The site had our last address under my name and hubby's, and our last three addresses under hubby's name.]

There is so much information online that is easily available to the public it would scare me shitless if I thought it about all the time. It seems no on is immune to having their lives exposed with a few simple mouse clicks. If you haven't taken the time to ZabaSearch or Google yourself or your family members do it now. You may be surprised at what comes up.

Many of the sites that compile personal information have a legal right to do so which is frustrating to say the least. We as citizens also have the right to ask that the information be hidden which is what I'm doing with ZabaSearch. It seems that the age of technology means anyone can be found at any time. But I'm not going to let it be so easy anymore.