Oooh that smell

Today is a holiday.  Maybe not one that everyone celebrates, but a holiday nonetheless. Jim, Madison and the kids all had the day off.  Andrew and I had to work. You know, because we are manly and stuff.   Anytime there is no school, I am happy because I can sleep until 7 rather than getting up at 5.  Which is why, when I was awakened at 5:30 by a terrible smell, I was not happy.  At first, I blamed Ollie, but upon getting my brain back into functioning gear, I realized it was actually the smell of melting plastic.  Insert panic mode.  When I opened the bedroom door, the smell was even stronger.  Almost overwhelming.  Even so, I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.  Let me backtrack a little.  Last week, I talked my husband into a new vehicle.  I assured him we could afford it, and I assured him it was absolutely necessary.  We spent a chunk of money.  Upon our arrival home from purchasing said vehicle, I started to take a shower only to discover our water heater was out.  We ended up purchasing a new water heater, after the parts did not work to keep the old one going.  So 2 major purchases in 24 hours might be a little bit anxiety inducing.  Back to this morning.  I worried that the new water heater was burning up.  It wasn’t.   I finally decided waking Jim up on his day off was necessary.  More searching. More panic.  After a while, Andrew also joined in the search, and then we figured out it was coming from the refrigerator.  

Jim was kind to me today.  He went to Nebraska furniture mart and picked up a new refrigerator.  I love my Jim, but sometimes he has the worst luck!  He headed out, got on the turnpike, and when he exited the Turnpike, realized that he forgot his wallet.  He managed to find enough seat dimes to pay his toll.  We made a plan that he would shop, and then call me and I would purchase the refrigerator over the phone.  Which was a good plan, except for debit card daily limits and a holiday that closes the bank.   We ended up pulling enough strings to get the darn thing purchased.   Jim then headed home, but didn’t have much gas, so I had to go rescue him with a debit card at the gas station.   

Jim did good.  And more importantly, the burning refrigerator is no more.  We have been using a refrigerator a long time and I have never seen anything like this.   I am thankful that it didn’t do any real damage, just scared us a lot.  I sincerely appreciate Jim taking his holiday to take care of our family.   I am sure refrigerator shopping is not what he planned to do today.  I don’t even want to go into the fact that the extended warranty we purchased ended last month.  I don’t want to point out that we have had a run of stuff breaking and I am weary of all appliance purchase.  At least our cheese and Dr Pepper are safe.  All’s well that ends well I guess.  

Some Wasted Plans

 

This weekend, Saige was supposed to play in her first basketball game, we were supposed to go spend the night with Colin, we were supposed to have a bunch of fun.  Instead, we stayed home as the stomach flu took us out one by one.  I am thankful that the weather closed school on Friday, as that gave me the morning off to be sick, rather than driving the bus while feeling like death.  Since we have no bus subs, it worked out splendidly.  

There are many benefits to having a large family.  I love it most of the time.  The downfall of a large family is that illness can last forever.  It is honestly much better if we all get sick at once, rather than having it drag on and on.  This time is the drag on.  One person at a time getting sick for  2 days at a time makes it last for weeks.  I am over it for sure!  The kids were disappointed that we didn't get to take our little mini-vacation, but Colin is not sad that we didn't share our germs! 

 

The girls were happy that they were not sick and could attend their cooking meeting, and their first model meeting practice.  Also luckily, they have tomorrow off for the holiday. Hopefully by Tuesday, everyone will be well and we can do our week without any interference.  

Moderate amounts of excitement

On Sunday, the heat went out of our van.  The air conditioner was already gone, and I lived with that, but I cannot live without heat.  There were several other problems, too numerous to list wrong with the old gray van, and so I told Jim we should trade it.  Several months ago I had found the vehicle I wanted.  It made the car shopping easy, as we were able to locate what we wanted, in the price range we wanted and got most of the paperwork done online as well.  We are happy to be driving our new (ish) Nissan Pathfinder.  I named her Tighty Whitey.  I am praying this will be the last car shopping er have to do for at least 10 years.  

It is good that we were able to accomplish the car buying last night, as tonight Preston had a game against Wellsville.  He also had to play in the pep band.   

Preston had a great game, and his team (the freshman team) beat Wellsville!  

Snow day Saturday

I am the first person to whine about weather.   I do not enjoy the cold.  I do not enjoy the mess that comes from the kids playing outside and dragging snow clumps in, and we haven’t even talked about the laundry caused by snow.  BUT I will freely admit I love a good snow day.  We had a lot of fun. There was absolutely nowhere to run off to.  We had great food, lots of time, a few TV shows to catch up on, and a relaxing day.  

Home time is the best time. 

Freezy Friday

I really enjoy driving the bus.   It fits well in my schedule, and allows me to get paid to do something I enjoy- hanging out with my kids.  But today is one of the kinds of days that every bus driver cringes at.   Winter storm warning day.  Of course, this is Kansas.  We had to start out with 60 degrees (yesterday), thunderstorms, followed by freezing rain and a prediction of snow for tomorrow.  Between routes, I work in an office across from the bank.  The bank has a giant display of the temperature in huge red numbers.  I watched as it was raining and the temperature kept falling.  I watched as the cars outside were accumulating ice.  I dreaded my afternoon routes.  I left early, worried and chomped gum, prayed and tried to remember every thing they told us in those dang defensive driving classes they force bus drivers to sit through.  

Preston was supposed to have a basketball game tonight.  That got cancelled.  Saige was supposed to have her first game tomorrow morning.  That has also been cancelled.  I am thankful.  I  am also thankful that the roads were not yet bad when I drove home all my bus riders.  I was so happy to park the bus!  

My anxiety level dropped even more when all my people were safely inside all of their houses.  Of course, we have one son who has taken a job where this is the type of weather he will be most likely to get called out in, but he reports that the weather in Wichita isn’t bad.  

As for all the plans getting cancelled, I’m never one to complain about that!   We had a lovely evening eating the turkey that Madison got as a Christmas gift from her employer (we think Christmas should be celebrated with ham~so we saved it for a cold weekend).  We spent some time figuring out our new tv, face timed a little with Cameron, and relaxed after the long week of jumping back into the regular routine.  

The love/hate

Christmas break is quickly drawing to an end.  I have a love/hate with this.  We have honestly had a wonderful break.  The kids and I have done projects, watched movies, made crafts, played with new toys and played games.  But like any good thing, they are starting to get a little bored.  They are starting to miss their friends, and I’ve noticed a small increase in the disagreements in the last day or so.  Also, their activities are starting back into full swing and so we are back to running again.  So as much as I hate giving up my free afternoons, and my later wake up time, it seems like it is time.  

We have one more day.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go do something fun tomorrow and they said yes.  I asked what, and Saige said she wanted to go to pet dogs.  Uhhhh I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t have to go anywhere to do that!   Crazy girl.  

We have some fun plans for the rest of January, plus the goats should start kidding, so I am hoping that the weather will stay as it is currently!   Time to refocus, tie up our boots and jump back into reality!  

New year, new you

We had a low key, but still fun New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day here at our house.  Madison and I made a bunch of snacks for dinner.  My family loves this tradition.  Saige spent the night with a friend, so we plugged in a replacement child for the evening, with Landrie hanging out here.  

I spent some time reflecting over the last year.  The thing that stands out to me is that no matter what has happened, we have stuck it out together as a family.  I can’t say it was a phenomenal year, but I can’t say it was bad either.   I am ready for a new chapter!   

We have had a couple of really funny moments already!   As the clock struck midnight, Landrie yelled out “new year...new you” and then she dropped down and started rapidly doing push ups.  Seriously made us all crack up.  

This morning we went to mass for the holy day, picked Saige up and dropped Preston off at basketball practice.  I told the girls we were going to have a decluttering day.   They all went to their rooms and I took the Christmas decorations down.   After a while I checked on their progress.  There was a pretty large pile on Saige’s floor.   I asked what it was and was told “that is my broken things collection.”   Apparently decluttering is not her strongest attribute. 

I am hoping this will be a year where we can purge some stuff out of our closets and maybe do a few of the projects on my list (my long, ever expanding list).