He Did it!

So, finally, we just couldn't wait any longer for 'Alexis' to be fixed (Grouper named her by accident). We decided to bite-the-bullet and charge the repairs on a credit card - yuck!, right? But there was no other option. I called AAA on this rainy day (the same one I declared "Pajama Day") to come and take her to the shop. (Yay for Triple A - the tow was free).
It was entertaining to watch the guy hoist this 3 tonner up on the flatbed when he couldn't even back it into our driveway (the pine tree roots have raised our driveway about 2 feet up from the street - making it hard for some cars to get in or out without bottoming out...
We were lucky to get a great car repair reference from our last Home Teacher - (he's the best car-guy!)--the same one who advised my husband NOT to try to fix our car himself.

I expected to be waiting a few days to get an estimate and another couple for the car to actually be fixed (not to mention the several months of paying for it!). But about mid-afternoon, I got a call saying the car was done. And the total?
About $36!
Well, it turns out that my husband can now add 'mechanic' to his long list of accomplishments. He had it fixed right, there was just one broken electrical wire to be replaced. Ta Daa!

We're so proud of him!!!

Pajama Day

I hear the rain as soon as I wake up. It is Tuesday, election day, and my kids are out of school, curled up on the couch and happy for the chance to watch early morning cartoons. Big T gets himself out the door without my help--"I'll just go out for lunch today, hon". Sounds good to me.

I realize that I have nowhere that I have to be, no bus to get my kids to, no one to get breakfast for (I splurged on boxed cereal), no lunches to make, notes to write, homework to find, etc. And one *** of a week behind me to recover from.

There are a baziliion things I should be doing (seriously), but today, I just can't. One look at my bedside table and its stack of patiently waiting, delicious books clinches it.

I let the kids watch as much TV and play as many video games as they want. No one has to get dressed. Meals? self serve-- whatever, and whenever they want (within reason, of course).

At the end of the day, there is, actually one thing I need to do. And I wait until almost the very last minute to do it--and at 6:45 I go in my pajamas, and turn in my ballot. I refuse to watch the results-just can't do it, just don't want to. And on the way home I wonder if I will not need a lot more of these days over the next four years...

Backyard Cookout

The tent was still up from Friday night's slumber party. It needed time to dry out after the rain that night.

Big T got a dutch oven for his birthday. I didn't feel like cooking dinner on this Sunday afternoon but I had planned tacos, and had everything ready for them. But I didn't get going fast enough apparently. Seems like the conditions were just right for a Backyard Cookout.

I had stumbled into the kitchen after my pseudo-nap (the one where you really wish you could sleep, but just lay there with your mind racing instead) to find my husband and kids busily preparing ...something. "I am not getting involved..." thought I.

A little later as I drove home after a meeting, I noticed that my house and front yard were shrouded in a thick white and grey smoke--no worries, this was just the result of my kids adding pine straw to the camp-fire.

I think the marshmallows actually got roasted and eaten before anything that was NOT made of approximately 100% sugar - but, of course what fun would waiting be? Especially when you could light the things up like a torch and watch the blazing sugar turn to a charcoal-ly ash and sometimes float away in the air. Maybe even try a little flame-throwing. When the marshmallows ran out, my kids had no qualms about roasting pine-cones. They were, after all, being allowed to play around FIRE on a Sunday afternoon.

The dutch-oven dinner took longer than expected, of course. Isn't that the rule?

They called it Washington Stew. (Grouper's idea, since George Washington was a pioneer, right? it was also her idea to don swimming goggles during this event) And they ate all of it. I called it unseasoned potatoes and carrots cooked in hamburger grease. If I had made something like that in my kitchen, no one would have touched it...willingly.

And then, what to do with my plate-ful? Risk squashing their enthusiasm, and any chances of another night "off" from dinner duty? Nope, I sneak in some salt, pepper, and Worchester sauce, ignore my rising cholesterol level, and join the clean plate club.