What are you REALLY paying for?

Today I got home from work to a letter from the local free lawyer service, Pine Tree Legal. They help low income people with legal issues for free to save them from all the horrible people, especially landlords (like me) who would otherwise victimize them. The letter was regarding a previous tenant who is seeking compensation from us to the tune of $2000. Last spring she annihilated our septic system. As soon as the plumber began fixing it, her boyfriend began talking about how "the landlord is going to pay for this." This reported to us by the unfortunate soul we sent to fix the septic system, the same guy who was able to tell us what had really happened to the septic system to cause it to fail. The boyfriend who was ranting and raving was the same boyfriend who was living there "under the radar" because otherwise the tenant would not be eligible for Section 8. For those you not familiar with Section 8, they pay a portion of the rent for low income families. The portion they pay depends on the family's income. In this case, the tenant was paying about $33 for a 3 bedroom apartment. As a landlord I see a fair amount of single mother's with Section 8 who soon after moving in have the father of their child(ren) living with them and therefore are ineligible for the program. Hard to prove, but pretty obvious anyway.

After the septic system was fixed (that day), the tenant contacted a code enforcement officer and before he arrived, removed the fixed parts to create a scenario that would give the impression we had not taken care of the issues. They had told the person fixing the septic system they planned to take it apart after he left, so we had a little heads up on this one. Unfortunately, they did not put it back together so in the end the damage was extensive.

The tenant gave her notice and we had to wait 30 days before we could get in to even see what she claimed was so bad. Once we finally did, we found that sewage had gotten into the floors and the septic had not been working for some time because it had been taken apart.

We made a claim to our insurance company and the agent who visited was coincidentally, the same agent who dealt with the tenant's claim. Apparently, she had moved into a hotel, citing illness and unlivable conditions so the insurance company covered all of her expenses while she lived in a hotel. The agent was also faced with the boyfriend, who he had to tell to stay out of it because he "supposedly" was not part of the family. He too claimed to be sick and disoriented from the situation.

Our costs were over $10K because we had to replace the entire septic system and floors, rugs, etc. This does not even include months of rental income lost because of the time it took to do all of the repairs. We had heard through others that the tenant had contacted Pine tree and was looking to sue us, in fact that was the plan from day one. I have my thoughts about whether that was the plan before she even moved in, but that I'll never prove.

We waited and didn't hear anything for months. We assumed that Pine Tree did some leg work and figured out there weren't grounds to sue us on. At least that was our assumption before today. When we got the letter, we called the insurance agent who handled both our claims. Did he not tell us that we were covered from liability because she had gotten paid and it was the same insurance company? Luckily, he answered our call and verified that the request for this $2000 the tenant is seeking is "double dipping". He might have also mentioned that she's a "tool" (man, I love that word!) Anyway, I have a better word for it, it's called "FRAUD". And that's what I told the lawyer in the letter I wrote in reply to her audacious request for $2000 to cover the costs of temporary housing due to the septic system failure that the tenant herself caused. Yes, I mentioned "fraud" because I for one always call a spade a spade (in this case, the spade is actually a creature lower than prehistoric frog shit at the bottom of a New jersey scum pond). I also mentioned that the lawyer oughta call this agent for the full story and then kindly let us know when this issue has been resolved. To make it easier, I gave her his name and phone number, he's expecting her call. Perhaps I should have asked for an apology too...hmm but truthfully I'd rather never hear from this "creature from below the scum pond" again.

So its a long story, but in the end, this "creature from below the scum pond" bilked Section 8, Pine Tree, the insurance company and Eric & I. You may not care about Eric and I or the insurance company, but guess who's paying for Section 8 and Pine Tree! Before you think this story is rare, let it be known that I've been around social services for a little while now. I won't go there, but I'll also tell you as a landlord that I've seen many other sad excuses for human beings. For instance, a woman with 2 children with Section 8 who paid about $20 a month for a 3 bedroom, claiming the father of the children was involved but didn't live with her. What we observed was that he did live with her, he had a good paying job, they had 2 cars, a motorcycle, outdoor "toys", among many other possessions. We've had people dealing drugs, setting the place on fire, and outright stealing. We've evicted more people than we can count and the apartment building isn't even in a bad part of town. Many of these people accessed social service programs.

So, think about what you are paying for. I for one used to be a far out liberal, wanting programs for everything and everyone. I have seen the error in my thinking and have much different beliefs now. While I firmly believe we need programs to help people who are hurting financially or for reasons not of their making for example mental illness, there are too many people who are taking advantage of those programs by bilking the system. My strongest advocacy and support goes out to children who need every chance we can give them. No child deserves to be hungry, hurt or to live in squalor regardless of how dishonest and corrupt their parents are. I am advocating for mandates to be set and followed so we can save our money and ourselves from dishonest people without making the children suffer. Surely there must be a way because what these children are learning by watching their unlawful, blood sucking parents is not good for them or our future society. When Clinton was president he revamped the welfare system and instituted sterner welfare to work programs. Maine has staunchly resisted the mandates and sadly there are still people who are not working when they are physically able to, even after the supposed 5 year lifetime limit on welfare benefits. It's time for Maine to get with the program!

Knitting for Coworkers

I just finished a fun project for a coworker of mine...a roll of toilet paper. She's had a rough couple of months so I thought I'd try to cheer her up a bit. A few months ago as part of a slew of money saving changes, the toilet paper was changed at work to a cheaper brand. Let's just say the change was uncomfortable for most of us to adjust to, in fact I may have gotten a paper cut at one point but I never looked to be sure. My coworker, in a mad frenzy to literally save her ass decided to grab any of the old toilet paper she could find and hoarded it in her office. Some of us chose to honor her ingenuity by decorating her office with the toilet paper one day while she was out. This is just another installment on the toilet paper legacy.

In other knitting related news, my flair for legwarmers seems to be catching on. I will refrain from complaining that it has taken several years of relentless work for this to finally happen. At least my legwarmer craze was acknowledged by most of my coworkers. If you ask one of my closer colleagues to describe me, legwarmers will come up. While I am a closet legwarmer wearer in some ways (I wear them under my pants), I am open to discussing my love for them and showing them off when the slightest bit of interest is shown.

Recently a beloved coworker/friend of mine sent me a beautiful card with a dog wearing legwarmers. She then told me a story about trying to buy some small legwarmers for her granddaughter's doll only to discover at the register that they were doggie legwarmers. She explained that she couldn't for the life of her figure out why they would sell 4 legwarmers that were the same for a doll instead of two different sets. Unfortunately the price for a set of doggie legwarmers is a bit drastic, so the poor doll had none. That's when I stepped in to save the day. Not only was her granddaughter very happy with the legwarmers, she has sent me a message. "Thank you and my doll needs boots."

Shhh, this is a secret. I am beginning my preparations for a set of 4 legwarmers for her dog, Jenna. It is just the next phase in my all out crusade to bring legwarmers back out into the open where their beauty can be enjoyed by all. Waaa Haaa Haaa!

Love the tree...

...As you love me

Today was pretty uneventful. More specifically I was feeling too under the weather to notice much if anything eventful was happening. So I ended up packing it in and heading home early from work, hoping to just vegetate for a while and forget how lousy I was feeling while I waited for some pain meds to kick in. When I was home long enough for the meds to start working and my feet to start moving, I got up and noticed "a problem". My son's tree was lying on its side in the backyard. I immediately realized how completely awful this was and how telling my son would be almost as bad as telling him one of the pets had died. I also immediately realized that it was unlikely an accident that the tree was in its current position, remembering what my children had recently told me about the new neighbor children saying they had wanted to cut it down. At the time my son had informed them that it was HIS tree and that they could not go into our yard and cut it down.

The tree was obtained as nothing more than a small sprig when my oldest was less than a year old at the Maine State Parade, a parade that he and Eric were in. We planted it that year in our yard and a couple years later (when the picture was taken) we moved it to make room for some landscaping we were doing. When we moved here about 5 and a half years ago, it was transplanted again, here in the corner of our backyard. We have watched it grow into what was, until recently, a tree taller than our son! I regret not taking a picture this past fall with my son in front of it when I talked about doing it. That brings me to the moral of the story.

In the past several months I have learned more than I ever wanted about doing things and not putting them off. I can't begin to list all the things I regret not doing now that I never will, or even the things I wish I could do 1 more time, like dance, ice skate, run etc.

When I went out to look at the tree more closely, I saw that it wasn't cut at the bottom, but had been cut about halfway down, about 4 feet. I asked the neighbor child who was at that moment playing in our stream if he knew what had happened. I informed him that it appeared to have been cut, judging by the hatchet marks. He denied doing it, although I still had my suspicions.

I was unbelievably relieved that it wasn't gone completely even though it will never grow the same again. It got me thinking how much that tree is like me now. It will never grow the same but at least its alive and will still be special to us if we allow ourselves to change our belief about how its supposed to be. As Eric and my oldest went through their rage and disappointment over the tree, I stopped them to remind them its okay to be angry and grieve over it, but that it isn't a total loss. I shared with them how the tree is more special to me now because it can help remind us about accepting things in a new way, like me with my illness. I also told them in no uncertain terms can it ever be cut down now, even if it doesn't have the right shape. Eric agreed that we can help it grow into a new shape and helped explain to the kids that it will never have the Christmas tree shape we had planned for it but that will be okay.

That being said, Eric still went straight over to the new neighbors and told the mother what had happened. He was angry (very angry) but he kept his cool and showed the mother and the son the picture of our son with the tree. He explained how it is special and can't be replaced with another tree because of the sentiment its held for us and our son over the years. Again the boy denied it, so Eric told them that he would be calling the police to make a report. Incidentally, shortly after the policeman left our house, the mother showed up with her son to admit he'd done it and to apologize. Even though he did it, it helped make the situation a little easier to accept when he owned up to it. It probably also helped salvage a potentially bad relationship with the new neighbors, since this was our first and only interaction with them, they have only been here about a month.

I have to admit that I am making lots of parallels in the world now as I deal with this unrelenting pain. I am almost certain I will be diagnosed with RSD aka Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or more recently called CRPS. It is not a good thing and I tried for a long time to deny I might have it. There was a time when I was spending time every day researching all the possible diagnoses I could get. Believe it or not, I would actually try to choose some over others, thinking this or that would be better than this one or that one. It sounds pretty ridiculous but I guess being in this situation can seem ridiculous anyway. I would continue to "up the ante" and knowing it was a little worse than I had previously allowed myself to believe, choose one that was unthinkable a only few weeks before. I think it was my way of preparing myself for whatever would come and trying to have some control over accepting one thing over another. However, I had become well versed in RSD/CRPS and had refused to accept that one, even though it seemed eerily similar to my symptoms. In fact, I showed Eric some information on it one day that I had printed off and he thought I had made it up, thinking the symptoms and thoughts about it could have been written by me.

I haven't been diagnosed with it yet, but two doctors have brought it up and the last neurologist is going to test me for it at the end of February. I have wanted a diagnosis for so long but I really don't want this one. The odds aren't in my favor for it to be anything less than debilitating, even with a positive attitude and a will to fight against it. It was has been said by some to be the most painful of the chronic pain conditions. I have already gotten to the stage where irreparable twisting in my arm has taken place. I just keep believing that with the right help I can overcome it and stay positive. I am fighting everyday to let my brain decide how I feel, not my body. Some days its more of a struggle than others, but I don't plan to ever give up. I will keep feeding my mind with positive information and thoughts, changing my perception about how things should be and being satisfied with how they can be. That's what I can control and I intend to do that. My body almost seems like this separate entity, a demon, trying to take over, but I will fight it and ask for help on the days it seems impossible. There are days when I feel sad about losing the person I used to be, or the things I can't do anymore, but I don't dwell on that. I just have to accept the person I am now and not even fear what may happen in the future. This serves me well and has given me some release not only from that loss but from so many other ditty little things that haggle us through life.