At the bank we got the really old and really slow teller lady who was oozing of germs. We explained our situation to her and asked to have the 2 stop payments processed, then we were planning to have a cashier’s check cut in place on the 2 stop payments. Easy enough right?

Well for starters the old teller lady was hacking up a lung the entire time we were trying to tell her what we needed which didn’t help her hear or understand what we were wanting.

I was sitting right across from her trying to hold my breath while she coughed and sneezed her germs all over us.

We explained it all about 6 times before she got a grasp of what we needed so that meant more coughs and sneezes for us to enjoy!

N was getting pretty annoyed and on edge about it all too. The whole time she was handling our documents her nose was running and she was casually wiping it with her sleeve and breathing/ coughing on her pen (that she later passed to us for use).

Normally I am not a germ freak and I have a pretty strong immune system but I am freaking pregnant folks! And I refused the flu shot (which I do every year) and any other shots that expose myself and baby to unnecessary things. So I am not loving this germ ridden encounter with really old, slow and very sick teller lady!

N wanted to ask for someone else to assist us. He also wanted to tell them to send the poor sick woman home already, she needed to rest and recuperate… She probably would have been offended though but what are you supposed to do? When I was a retail worker I remember a few times where customers spoke up for me and I appreciated it… N bit his tongue though and let her keep helping/ germ assaulting us.

I only ever get sick once a year, max and I don’t take pills or get shots to prevent illness. I sometimes have allergies or headaches but full on flu or other sicknesses skip me somehow (knock on wood). Still, your immune system is weakened by pregnancy and being sick while pregnant can be a pretty uncomfortable thing since you aren’t allowed to take anything. I haven’t been sick yet and want to keep it that way!

Anyway, I got assaulted big time with germs at the bank yesterday, now I am chugging OJ! Thought I would share that with you.

Today we’ve been pouring over legal documents and I think my eyes are going to bleed. We are on round 3 of the lease/ purchase agreement for the new house. I just typed up 2 different mutual release documents to get out of our lease, one of which will be signed and executed Friday when we meet with and pay the slumlords.

We are also reading up on tax and home buyers intensives in addition to researching IRA funded home purchase rules, mortgage options and Indiana closing cost info. Fun stuff huh?

But hey, we got our house and we are so outta this shit hole! Now that bank teller better not have gotten me sick…

The post Um, hi! Can you spray your germs somewhere else, please? [*warning* graphic snot pic ;-)] appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Wanted to take some time to give you the weeks highlights… For starters, we found Boner in Maybelle’s section of the rabbit cage earlier this week. Boner + Maybelle = little rabbit babies= craptastic!

Somehow he managed to dislodge the wire cage separator that is his floor and he squeezed down there to “hug” and cuddle with her. Now we are watching for rabbit pregnancy signs and Boner has been migrated to his own homemade rabbit hutch.

She is surely pregnant since female bunnies “release an egg after being exposed to the male” unlike a human woman’s ovulation cycle. Additionally she may even be carrying multiple litters since they were together for so long and we didn’t know about it.

Looks like she’ll have those babies in about 30-34 days if she is indeed pregnant and we can expect anywhere from 1-16 babies depending on her actual breed and size (which we aren’t sure about) and we’ll have to keep each of those babies separate from each other (since sexing young bunnies is difficult) shortly after birth to avoid more unwanted pregnancies. They can start to breed as early as 12 week old! Like I said, super craptastic huh?

Our Eureka Altima Vacuum (that we got a little over a year ago) melted itself this week rendering it completely useless now. We’ve contacted Eureka about the apparent product defect and are awaiting a response. We may have to buy a new vacuum soon…

The packing and home hunting madness has begun! Still have not heard from the mortgage people about our application but we are looking at both rentals and possible purchases right now to cover all bases.

Next month is my birthday and we are celebrating by taking another trip to Tennessee to see our midwife, Pamela, at The Farm. I am so obviously pregnant now and can’t really believe I could deliver Tater in as little as 18 weeks. I’ve got some major tailbone pain and also some major pelvic pressure from my growing bump, other than the growing pains I feel good.

Oh, if you are interested in reading more about home birth stuff let me know, I just read two really great articles in Mothering magazine that I scanned and can email you if you want!

Tater is still as active as usual, I even got a cool video of my belly jiggling around as a result of her kicks and punches for the sake of memories, fun!

Our bedding set for Tater just shipped so we are anxiously waiting for it to arrive via UPS and can’t wait to see it! We got our wishlists updated for everyone who has been hounding us (see the links on the side bar of this page under the baby widget), now we just really need to get busy with moving before she comes!

Oh and nope, we still have no name ideas.

We are looking at more rental and contract purchase homes this weekend in addition to doing our grocery shopping and Wii Playing, we also plan to pack, clean and organize like crazy!

What does your weekend have in store?

The post Weekly drama recap… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Yeah, so in Indiana having a baby in your home with certain midwives is bad news but you can be exposed to any level of mold spores by your landlord because there are no defined limits on mold here! Nice huh?

Yep, I found out that there is no regulation on mold growth here. We talked to the Indiana department of health about it today. Really just goes to prove how much the laws truly protect us.

DEM (direct entry midwives) and CPM (certified professional midwives) are not able to legally practice in Indiana simply because their training did not include licensed nursing. They are thoroughly trained and know their trade but they are considered unlawful by the state, the reasoning is that law is “protecting us”.

Yet mold safety limits are not set in Indiana and the presence of mold is not a health department or code enforcement issue (we’ve called both organizations) here despite the CDC’s statements that “If you can see or smell mold, a health risk may be present.” and that all forms of mold are bad and should be removed. Where is our law that protects now? *scratches head*

Oh and our landlords did allow that certified letter and rent check we sent to get returned to us. The post office held the letter and left them notice to come pick it up, the letter waited for for 18 days but the landlords just couldn’t be bothered with it… So now we are waiting for it to appear back in our mailbox so we can determine what to do now. Good thing we wasted like $5.00 to send it. I am just so damn mad about all this rental drama today!

Thanks for all your well wishes. Yesterday I was feeling a bit better but today I am back to feeling like a cold is coming on. We have our air ducts in the bedroom closed off and I have a humidifier with vicks vapor stuff in it that makes my breathing less painful but my head still aches and so does my body (like I am running a fever).

It is confirmed, I am breathing in mold while in the house, the mold tests are beginning to show mold growth on them so that proves it. Now we just need to see if the mold presence on the indoor tests proves to be more that the control test we were instructed to run outdoors. The tests have another day to incubate.

If there is more mold in the house than there is in the air outside that is considered bad news. I am certain the air quality is impacting our health and the health of the pets since we are all having respiratory issues.

Here is what those petri dishes are looking like today:

This first photo is of the outdoor air sample, the control test that determines what amount of mold growth is normally in the air surrounding the house. Click on the image for a larger view.

The next photo is of the basement test. This one was placed on the floor near the area that water seeped under the bar and in to the tiled area of the basement. Click on the image for a larger view.

So far it looks like more mold was present in the basement air test that in the outdoor air test. Just to be sure we did a second basement test today and N is also planning to run a HVAC mold test to sample the quality of the air from our heater and AC unit.

Honestly I am at a loss as to what the next step is. I do not have the physical or emotional strength to move right now nor do I think I will throughout the course of this pregnancy.

I know we are going to have to either way as our lease expires before I am due. Obviously we don’t want to remain in a home that has moldy air while I am pregnant and I am certain we can get out of the lease if we want to despite the lack of mold regulations in the state…

We are looking for a place to buy right now because quite frankly we do not want to be moving every year for the next 3 years while we are here for N’s job, especially with a child. But buying a home is also something you don’t just rush in to. If we rushed we might end up owning a dump that also has mold issues except we would own it and have to spend a ton fixing the issue.

I am just exhaused and can’t find a solution. In a perfect world we would already own a home, I would be decorating the baby’s nursury, things would be calm and I wouldn’t face heath risks as a result of my home’s air quality… Reality has presented me with the exact opposite of perfection and we’ll just have to find a way to make it work, as usual. That just pisses me off today, I am going to eat a corndog now.

The post In Indiana breathing mold is okay but home birth is not, just an FYI. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

For those who do not know we are actually renting this house on a month to month basis, it’s for sale and at the time we could not commit to a longer lease, you can read more about it here.

Anyway, we got a call from the rental company on Thursday morning regarding the new stove delivery and were also notified that there was a contract on the house, some poor schmuck actually made and offer on the house we are renting. Our certified letter giving us 30 day to vacate the property was on the way…

Now having 30 days to find a new place, pack your crap and move is enough to stress anyone out so with that on top of the stove fire experience I needed to hibernate for the day. That is exactly what I did yesterday. No blogging, no commenting, no nothing… just sewing purses, trying to find a new rental, eating cookie dough and having a glass of champagne before bed…

Today I am happy to announce that my hibernation period has passed and we are steps closer to having a new rental home just blocks away from our current one. We looked at it today and are interesting in going forward. Oh, and the new to us/ used stove was delivered so I can actually cook dinner tonight.

The purse factory is going well also. I have 21 finished purses today and will knock out 4 more by the end of the night…. So, how was your week? Are you as glad as I am that the weekend is here?

The post We can cook again and we will be moving, again… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.