Life update

House: still broken. Nothing repaired in the past 4 months, and the main sewer line has backed up into the basement 3 times.

House insurance: Finally settled our insurance claim, after 8 months of fighting the insurance company. Original $17K offer turned into $55K, which was a rather substantial improvement. Thanks to friends and family who offered advice about how to deal with the horrible lying scum who our insurance company forced us to deal with.

Cars: Working. Still liking the new car. Just haven't had time to take it to the body shop to get the minor damage from December repaired.

Dog: Only one trip to the vet, which turned out to be a toenail problem. Thank God for easy.

Health: Not ok. Time-consuming and frustrating. David is recovering from major surgery, with more to come later this year.

Health insurance: About 3 hours a week managing this for the past few months, but it’s now mostly done for the rest of 2016 thanks to the crazy number of claims in February. Mostly time-consuming rather than frustrating.

Lisa’s work: Ok! This remains a bright spot, which is huge.

Michael’s work: Not ok!

Temple board: I failed to have any impact on the board or the Temple, but I feel good about having tried my best. Joining was the right thing to do, and stepping back now is as well.

David: Rowdy, not listening well. Lots of joy, lots of frustration, flipping back and forth repeatedly within minutes. Lots of sweet moments.

David’s preschool: We have a new one for next year, and we have notified the current one that we will not be returning. Good to have the decision made, and we have heard great reports from other parents who have used the new preschool.

City government: I’m pretty sure anarchy would provide better municipal services. But we had one tangible victory when the city made the dangerous two-way street by our house into a one-way street and eventually put up sufficient signage to convince drivers that they had made the change.

Search for where to live: Difficult and slow. We cannot afford the places we like, we don’t like the places we can afford. For place, read both house and community.

Hobbies, friends: Improving. I read a book. I’ve seen a few friends.