Thanks for all the good information about the stimulus payments, everybody!  Based on what you gave me, it appears that both of ours should have come through electronically on the 9th, so...hmph.  

Could be an issue with the bank account, because I had to freeze it when my purse was stolen, but I had it set it to receive deposits only in anticipation of this coming through (so anyone who wants to deposit money into my old checking account, feel free to do so any time the urge strikes).  I'll give it a few more days and see what happens before doing anything that resembles actual work to find out what's going on.

So, how many of you have gotten your rebate money from the govt. already?  We haven't gotten ours yet, and we're starting to get nervous about it.   

Someone told me that it goes by the last four digits of your social security number, but that doesn't seem true, or else I would have at least gotten mine.  Someone else told me it goes by last name, but that can't be right based on people I know who already got their checks.   We're supposed to get it via direct deposit, so I've been looking online obsessively for it daily, to no avail.

I AM EAGER FOR THIS MONEY.  WHERE IS IT?!?!?!?!

Right at this moment, there are a bunch of men on my roof, yanking off all the damaged shingles and preparing to attach new, superfly ones.  I think they might actually be done with the whole thing by the end of the day.  Never in my life did I think I could get this excited about a new roof.  Charles asked me this morning what 8th grade Charles and Lisa would have thought if someone had materialized in our algebra class to tell us that in the future, we would be balls-out thrilled about getting an insurance claim for our roof approved.  I said that first of all, we would never have believed that in the future we would be married, and secondly, we would never believe that we could grow up to be that boring.

It's weird to have such a major racket going on over my head, and if I didn't know what was going on, I would be calling the police to tell them aliens had landed and were trying to pry our roof off with their giant alien claws.  Our dog, who has grown into such a neurotic creature that the sound of a gentle spring rain falling on the roof sends her into a panting, keening frenzy?  Doesn't even seem to hear it.  She's just walking around and flopping down here and there, business as usual.  Good to know that if aliens ever do try to pry off the roof, she won't even bother to warn us.  We need only to be notified when something as horrific as rain is happening.

So, one day recently I noticed one of our cats staring at something on the back (interior) side of the front door.  When I got closer, I saw 3 winged bugs clinging to the door, and thought, "Uh oh...three of the same kind of bug?  That's a lot!"  Oh, how naive and foolish I was two weeks ago.  I was trying to decide how to remove them when I heard this kind of clicking, fluttering noise on the other side of the door.  Believe me, I considered not opening it.  In fact, I considered never opening the front door again for the rest of my life if that was what it took to never find out what horrible thing was happening on the other side, but curiosity got the better of me, so I peeked.  And then I hollered, "CHARLES!!!!     I NEED YOU!!      AND BRING BUG SPRAY!!!!!!!"

He walked up with Ant & Wasp killer in hand, and immediately started laying to waste the bajillion bugs that were rustling all over the bottom of the storm door where they had slipped in and were working their way up the door frame.  We didn't immediately know what they were, we just knew we didn't want them to get any further inside.  They died quite politely - no resistance whatsoever.  Basically, they were all, "Hello there!  We're brand new bugs who just came to life underneath your house and flew out in a humongous swarm, and now we're going out into the world to ---  oh, we're dead."

Here are some pictures of the battlefield still covered in corpses and bug spray:

...that Chick Fil A sells their lemonade by the gallon?  

I just found out yesterday, and have many OH HELL YES feelings about it.  The downside is that it costs over $8.00 per jug, so it's not like I would buy it every week, but this summer on a weekend when I am dedicating myself to relaxation and happiness?  I am absolutely buying a gallon of that heavenly beverage. 

(Also posted to the abandonedplacescommunity)

Charles and I went out yesterday looking at some old, abandoned places that he knew about back from his days as a Surveyor, and found what I thought were some pretty interesting things at the site of an old wood mill by the river built in the 1800's, and a couple of very old cemeteries. All of these were taken just outside of Atlanta, GA.  Hope you enjoy, and that this isn't too long or picture-heavy!

Here is the exterior of the mill from the side we couldn't really get to by foot.  This picture was taken with a camera phone, but the rest of them were taken with a different camera, and are of better quality: 

 (#1)

Along the trail, there was an old, grown-over mill house that I really loved:

 (#2)



 

Tomorrow is February 20th, and there is something about that date that means something.  Could it be someone's birthday?  An anniversary?  A deadline?  Maybe.  I have no idea, and it's nagging at me like crazy. 

Whatever it is, it's probably very important, and it will come to me in the middle of the night as I lay in bed on February 21st.