Handyman and Amazing Kids

My husband has become Mr. Handyman this weekend. He has not only fixed the hot water heater, he also replaced the broken glass in our front door!!!

Then to say my kids are AMAZING would be an understatement! Zach and Hilary work with me on the weekend. They help me clean an office building. They did the whole building without me yesterday! They are so great!

Hot Water Hero

Yesterday I was fussing about not wanting to make dinner and as I was sitting here blogging about it I heard a noise. It only lasted a couple of seconds and along with the noise the power flickered. A little while later it happened again. I went down stairs and checked things out, like I know what I'm looking at. Of course I found nothing unusual. So I did what any good wife would do, I called my honey and told him. I went on about my business, took a shower and went to turn on the dryer, that's when I found the problem. There was a rather large puddle of water escaping from the water heater. Kind of like the bounty commercial...it's a three sheeter...except this was a three bath toweler. Of course I did again what all good wives do, called my husband. Unfortunately this took him away from his plans of an afternoon with his mom, sorry mom. He came home and very calmly examined the situation and got a list of needed materials and off to Menards we went. Now if you don't know my husband very well he can be easily frustrated with this type of unexpected home improvement project, especially considering the conditions of the installation. Our heating ducts are positioned approximately 1 inch above the water heater, he never said a word about it, just assessed the problem and moved along. I am so proud of him for that. Anyway, we get home he begins to start the removal process of the old one. I had to leave I had a prior commitment that I could not miss, I'm sure this was a God thing considering spouses don't always work together the best in situations like this one. When I got home the old one was almost drained so we ate dinner, which by the way Matins cooked (deli chicken), and they removed the old one. In just a short time the new one was installed. Bob connected the electric and it was just a matter of time before we had hot water. I went ahead and went to bed. When I got up this morning I expected hot water, it was still cold. I assumed Bob already knew this but I did not want to be the one to tell him, just in case he didn't. He just calmly asked, "was the water hot?" I replied, "no." He simply said, "I figured." He went to the hardware store, came home, worked on it a few minutes and now we have hot water! He is now my, Hot Water Hero! He laughs but I'm serious! No hot water...a BIG deal. Fixing the problem...even BIGGER deal!

All this to say I am so thankful that God worked it all out! He kept 60 gallons of water from exploding all over my basement (which is my bedroom), that when we bought the new heater it was about 70.00 off the original price, and through the removal and installation process God blessed Bob with such a great attitude and even temper! If it had to go out...God couldn't have done it any better! Go figure...He's just amazing that way.

The Most Dreaded Question

Maybe it's just me but I really dread the question "what's for dinner?" Inevitably it will happen a minimum of once a day. Typically in my home it's at least four times (once from each kid and once from Bob). Unfortunately I am so sick of trying to figure out what's for dinner I just don't care. I'm working on it though...making myself come up with some sort of a potential menu. I think tonight will be chicken and fettuccine alfredo or we will have breakfast for dinner. Any preferences? Any great ideas?

Wednesday

I thought I would play in the mud today...the dry wall mud that is. I put the tape on the seams and then realized I couldn't open the container of mud. Guess the mud party isn't happening until someone else open the crazy thing. So I did what I knew I could, I cooked dinner.

Then I went to Bob's work for a "wedding reception" of sorts. One of the owners, who is Jewish, oldest son was recently married. It was an arranged marriage. Part of the Jewish tradition is to travel around for about 10 days after the wedding to smaller receptions to celebrate the wedding with those who are important to the families but could not attend the wedding. It was very interesting and different to take part in this tradition. Got to love new experiences.

Then I was off with Hilary to take my mother-in-law to lunch. We had a nice afternoon. We ate, talked, and laughed at silly stuff. I think we all needed that. Then we went shopping. Hilary tried on numerous things and there were even a few that Grandma said, you look to much like Grandma...not working. It was entertaining. SIDE NOTE: If you want to do something entertaining, take a teenage girl shopping and make her try on ugly dresses...believe it or not it can be a lot of fun. She can try on pretty ones too but you have to throw in the uglies for kicks. Don't forget to take pictures!

After all that, back to usual. Laundry, housework, pick up Bob, pick up Zach and them home for the evening. Good night!

Weird Dreams

Most of the time I don't remember my dreams but for the past week I seem to be having about 2-3 a night that I remember just as soon as I wake up. Typically they are whats waking me up. They seem so vivid and then I tend to forget them. They do seem to have one common theme though, good vs. evil, the great thing is that in each dream good has been conquering evil. Don't know if they mean anything but it's nice to know that in my dreams good is winning.

Catching Up

Well it has been a crazy week. Started out sick with a pretty full work schedule. Worked through Monday, was still not feeling well. Woke up Tuesday and felt great, whatever it was over the last 7 days was gone! Yea! I had two "emergency" calls for help for work, one existing client, one new. So on top of my already scheduled 7 jobs this week I added two more, I was exhausted, but today I rest. I have come to the conclusion I do not know how people who work full time do it. How they work 40 plus hours, take care of the house, cook dinner every night, spend time with the family, run kids here and there, and keep their sanity. I apparently am not that good. By the time I have gotten done each day, I did not feel like cooking. We ate alot of left overs, the family is sick of meatloaf, and then when that ran out I had to force myself to cook "new food". Grateful for the extra work but I just don't know how people do it. I figure something has to be neglected, just has to be.

Anyway the folks are in town for the weekend, enjoying the day with them and hopefully Bob will be out of work on time today, he has been working alot of extra. Looking forward to the weekend...

Crisis Diverted

Bob has gone away for the weekend, a much needed break for him. However, life still goes on. Nothing stops, not even the drama that comes along with teenagers. Hilary and I went to see the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on Friday, we loved it. Saturday she went to work and then met me at our cleaning job. She asked if I had seen her wallet. Of course I hadn't so we double checked the cars and had Evan check at home, nothing. On our way home to look some more I finally asked her outside of her license, what did she have in it. Only her ATM card and about
$100.00. We get home, no wallet. The only option left, the theater. What were the odds. I finally get ahold of a number to speak to a person, after describing the wallet and repeating her name about 5 times, wallet FOUND! Thank you Jesus! Crisis number one, diverted.

The kids went to play Capture the Flag. I get a phone call Saturday around 10:30p.m. from Hilary, her trunk won't close. Luckily they were in the Infalts neighborhood and Dave was home and helped to bungee the trunk shut (as shut as it would stay). It worked for the night but she can't continue to drive around like that, so Hilary and I took our massive car knowledge this morning and attempted to fix the trunk. We first lubricated the lock, now it actually popped but it still wouldn't grab and relock by itself. Next brilliant idea, rig it. We thought if we could put a screw in it to help it grab ahold of the bar and lock. It kind of worked. One problem, one bump and it would pop open. Next idea, tape. Maybe it just needed more to grab ahold of. Nope, didn't work. I finally figured out how to pull her back seat down and that enabled Hilary to lock it from the inside using the ingenious paper clip and screwdriver. Crisis number two, diverted.

Little Things

I have decided I need to celebrate the little things. Instead of dwelling on what I messed up or took too long to do, I will celebrate what I have done right or in some cases finally gotten done. For instance, instead of dwelling that I missed an exit on the road, celebrate the fact that that I only missed it by one mile instead of 10 miles. Even like today, I have been meaning to clean the car out for weeks, possibly a couple months, but today I did it. So I celebrate that I actually have done it as opposed to dwelling on the fact I have taken so long to get to it. Just a new way I want to look at things, even the little things. A change in attitude and in vision, should be a better way of seeing and living life.

Time to Breathe

It's been a whirlwind the last week or so. Hilary, Wendy and myself went to Atlanta to see Judy. We drove all night Tuesday, napped a couple hours Wednesday morning and then were off to the Margaret Mitchell house. It was awesome. She was quite a woman. I find it ironic that the one thing she is most known for, writing Gone With The Wind, is the least of her accomplishments! Well worth the time to check it out. Then we were off to the Cheesecake Bistro, YUM! Then to Oxygen to check out the Youth Group. What a fun time. There was a great energy in the room and such a passion from everyone who was there worshipping. We did a little shopping while we were there, hung out with some Master's students, cooked, went to Fat Matt's Barbeque- can I just say, YUM! We had a good time, it was just really nice to spend some time with a dearly missed friend.

I've been playing catch up since we got home Sunday morning. It's been a lot of working and just keeping my head above water but today I can breathe! Yeah!