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.

Still the Same Star

Here she is - those beautiful sparking blue eyes and silly grin. She's wearing her favorite beach hat from the kite shop at Jockey's Ridge and her favorite t-shirt that says "Sophie's Beauty Hut" on the back.
And I LOVE this girl soo much.

She is still the same sweet girl she was before being diagnosed with Type I Diabetes yesterday.

But I am different. And the choices we'll make as a family are different; from what to eat, to where to live. I am amazed how quickly all of the things I used to concern myself with have dissappeared in an instant. And how issues that didn't concern me yesterday have parked themselves right smack in the middle of my world. I find my ignorance of this disease and ambivalence toward stem cell research embarrassing now. Amazed at what I took for granted just yesterday. More grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ than ever.

I finally fell asleep last night after forcing myself not to think of all the ways our lives have been changed, literally overnight. Or asking the inevitable questions, "Why?", 'why her?", 'why our family?', "why now with all of the changes she is already dealing with by virtue of her tender age?" 'was it because she inherited my screwy overactive immune system that turned on her own beta cells?" "Could we have done anything differently?" These questions don't help.
I have to remember that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and for her, and, whether we like it or not, this is part of it.

My stomach is still churning and my hands tremble as I write this, but I do it in hopes that it will be like therapy for me - as writing my thoughts often has been a comfort for me. Potential titles to this post floated in my brain as I sat inthe ER yesterday with my girl: 'This changes Everything', 'What a difference a day makes,' etc.

But ultimately this is the right one. She is still the same smart, shy, silly, fun loving, Nancy Drew obsessed girl. She is still a star on the stage of our family's lives.

Feeling Squirrelish

Well, looks like the time has come. I can no longer ignore the need to organize, categorize, and inventory our food storage. Actually, we have been dipping into our food storage for quite some time now. We use the powdered milk, the oats, the sugar, the flour, the rice pretty much on a regular basis.

I just haven't really been thinking about restocking it as much as I should have been.

Until now, I haven't really been thinking about taking inventory to see just exactly what and how much we have left. We just added to it as the opportunity arose.

In fact, I was feeling pretty good about the fact that the space beneath my bed and my unusable shower was full of food storage. I felt like I could lay my hands on pretty much any staple I needed at any time. I've been a little laxidaisical about it because we've been in "temporary" mode for so long. My thinking was, why store all that food when we'll just have to move it sometime soon?

Last week, I gathered up all the food from its various hiding places and put it all together to see what we had in comparison to what is recommended.

Well, I'm not feeling comfortable any more. It seemed like so much more when it was scattered out all around the house.

So, now I'm feeling the need (not necessarily the desire) to fill every extra nook and cranny in my house with food storage. I'm dehydrating carrots raiding our savings to buy extra bags of flour and sugar. I'm really hoping that I'm not too late to be taking an intense interest in this.

Is it just me, or do my cheeks look puffy?

A Little Bit of Birthday

Yesterday was Big T's 37th birthday! We have been so busy around here that I didn't get a chance to plan as much as I would have liked. I know what a bummer it is to wake up on your birthday and realizing that no one made much of an effort. He says it's no big deal, but that we should let the kids enjoy it.

It was just a little family party. The kids were excited about pizza and the "fancy" cake--although, as usual I think it looked better than it tasted. the kids had fun decorating and making cards. It was fun watching them scurry around, planning their daddy's party. They planned games, but by the time we slogged though traffic and back home again, we were all tired and Big T decided watching a video would be just fine.

H-man made a special Lego creation to give to his dad--which was very touching considering his Legos are pretty much his most prized possessions.

All in all, a pretty low-key birthday. I worried that he'd be disappointed. But I don't think so... when they told him to make a wish, he hugged his kids and replied "all my wishes already came true".

Dude, Where's My Car?

My dear husband has amazing skills, and I'm not talking about bowstaff and numchuck skills, Kip. He grew an impressive vegetable garden this year and keeps the yard under control, he does most of our car maintenance, as well as plumbing, electrical work, drywalling, and pretty much any household repair--in fact, he's turned several ramshackle old houses into valuable income producing properties in his spare time. At his day-job as an accountant, he analyzes spreadsheets with the best of them and files a mean itemized tax return, and then, of course the best part:
he's a loving, patient and kind husband and father.
I tell ya - the man practically does it all !
Unfortunately for me, however, he wants to be able to do everything and he tries to do it all, and that recently translated to his attempt to fix my car--
about a month ago!
Probably not his best idea...To his credit he got good instructions and methodically followed them, got all the right tools and so forth, and tried really hard. But, when we turned the key...alas, nothing happened.
The towing and garage bill to repair my car is going to be more than we have stashed under the mattress. And my guy is working so hard on several fronts, I just don't know when I'll be able to start my baby up again. Greener, yes - but not by choice!
So I'll be carless for a while longer--I wish it was because I'm so thrifty and conscientious about the environment. Not so. It's because I had such faith in Big T to be able to do it, since he can usually fix everything.
And he will...eventually.