Last night went mostly according to plan. After throwing together a super basic meal of chicken, rice and corn (that neither of my children would eat), we all headed out to The Ultimate Playzone to celebrate Melinda's birthday. They're only open for family times on Monday nights, so it's not something we could do on her birthday. But honestly, like she cares!! Melinda and Jacob were beyond thrilled to spend about an hour and 15 minutes bouncing and climbing their hearts out. And since myself, Jesse and Alex were all free, it only cost $14 for all of us to get in. And there were only about 3 or 4 other families there, so not crowded at all! It was a lot of fun. For all of us. Even Alex got to crawl around on some big ol' bouncy toys!
Jesse asked, a couple minutes after we got in, if I brought the camera. Sorry hon - I just don't feel like crawling and bouncing around with an expensive piece of technology strung about my neck. So, there aren't any pictures. But if you can imagine Melinda doing incredibly dangerous-looking half-flips off of inflatable plastic bouncy equipment, that's what you would have seen. And Jacob's hair drenched in sweat. And Alex laughing his head off at the bright colors and tricky crawling surface.
Oh, and of course - the perfectly peaceful way that Melinda and Jacob both promptly fell asleep at 8pm. Ahh, bliss. Sure, that is worth $14 in and of itself. Not that Alex would let the evening be completely perfect - he decided that he wanted to scream his head off every time I tried to set him down to sleep. I gave up and let him play until Jesse and I went to bed much later. He made up for it by sleeping from about 11:30am - 2:45pm today. ;)
Melinda said to me this morning that the day after tomorrow is her birthday! And she just can't wait for her birthday so her friends can come over to play!! (*slaps head*) I had to explain to her again that we're not having a friend birthday party this year. But that we will have a holiday party. Remember, Melinda? The deal we made? Part of which was going to the bouncy place last night? I felt like I disappointed her all over again. Oh, well. Life goes on.
And P.S. - after about 2 full months of living in a 2nd floor apartment and dragging groceries up the stairs and through two different heavy doors, repeatedly, getting completely winded and struggling with the weight of bags, I've decided that the "American Dream" is simply to have a home with minimal obstacles from the car to the kitchen. At least, I think that's my dream.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Results of Jesse's Car Work
Jesse had previously agreed to work on our van this past Saturday. The weather would be nice, the van really needed it, and who wouldn't prefer to work on a car with beautiful sunny weather instead of chilly autumn rain? Still, it took Jesse a long time to get up the motivation on Saturday. I can't say I blame him. I wouldn't choose to spend my free time working on a car, either.
But eventually, he did go out and get started. He made a quick trip out to Sears to get a few things he needed, then came back home and fixed the thermostat in the van. It was definitely the cause of our loss of heat - it was very obviously broken. I love it when Jesse shows me the bad parts he removes from our vehicles! I was also happy to hear that it was such a cheap part - only about $3.00!! And easy to access, right at the top under the hood. In fact, the thing that took him the most time was just trying to remove the thermostat - it was stuck pretty tight to another piece, and we couldn't find our sandpaper. He eventually went at it with a knife. It worked. And then putting in the new thermostat took just a couple minutes.
He came inside, cleaned up, and looked like he was finished. I asked him, "Did you already do the spark plugs, too?" (Translation: Hey hon, I'm so glad you fixed the heat in my car on this beautiful 70-degree day, but wasn't it the car dying repeatedly that was our main cause for concern, here? Why does it look like you're not going to work on that today?) He didn't, he admitted. I reminded him that the spark plugs were the whole point of working on the car, and he hemmed and hawed about it. Technically, according to lease terms, he's not supposed to do car work in the parking lot (ridiculous rules, oh how I hate them!). So he was feeling like he didn't know what to do - he could take the van over to his work parking lot and work on it there, and also have access to extra tools at work, but then, he said, he'd have to wait for the engine to cool down first. I told him he ought to just work in our parking lot, since I very much doubted that anyone would actually tell Jesse to stop working on the car that day. But finally, he groaned and went to it, deciding to just go over to work.
And when he got there, he gave me a call. Once he arrived at work and was about to grab some tools, he noticed a broken window in his boss's office. He ended up having to call the police, wait for them to arrive, give a report, and then wait for one of the head honchos at work to arrive and help him board up the broken window. (Apparently, Jesse's boss left his laptop on his desk in clear view of the window, and then didn't even close the blinds before he left - so someone walking by could see an easy target. Yikes.) So, despite Jesse's intentions, the spark plugs still weren't taken care of this weekend.
But the heat works, and very nicely, I might add! It warmed up my feet quite well on our way to church on Sunday.
Jesse says he'll try and work on those spark plugs ASAP. We have a great forecast ahead of us, with nothing but gorgeous weather for October. Sorry to make some of you jealous... but, just have a look!!!
This is for this week!! Mid-October!!! Yup, definitely prime time to work on a car. Only, I do have to gripe just a little bit. Without a frost, autumn colors disappoint just a little bit. There are a few trees here and there with really vibrant, gorgeous colors, but the majority of trees are still green and just starting to loose leaves a little bit at a time, going just a dull brown before they fall. I would really like to see a good frost so all the trees can change at once, and autumn can be really spectacular. Warm weather just doesn't make for really awesome autumn scenery. Still... it is awfully nice to put off the warm jackets and constant bundling up for a little while longer.
But eventually, he did go out and get started. He made a quick trip out to Sears to get a few things he needed, then came back home and fixed the thermostat in the van. It was definitely the cause of our loss of heat - it was very obviously broken. I love it when Jesse shows me the bad parts he removes from our vehicles! I was also happy to hear that it was such a cheap part - only about $3.00!! And easy to access, right at the top under the hood. In fact, the thing that took him the most time was just trying to remove the thermostat - it was stuck pretty tight to another piece, and we couldn't find our sandpaper. He eventually went at it with a knife. It worked. And then putting in the new thermostat took just a couple minutes.
He came inside, cleaned up, and looked like he was finished. I asked him, "Did you already do the spark plugs, too?" (Translation: Hey hon, I'm so glad you fixed the heat in my car on this beautiful 70-degree day, but wasn't it the car dying repeatedly that was our main cause for concern, here? Why does it look like you're not going to work on that today?) He didn't, he admitted. I reminded him that the spark plugs were the whole point of working on the car, and he hemmed and hawed about it. Technically, according to lease terms, he's not supposed to do car work in the parking lot (ridiculous rules, oh how I hate them!). So he was feeling like he didn't know what to do - he could take the van over to his work parking lot and work on it there, and also have access to extra tools at work, but then, he said, he'd have to wait for the engine to cool down first. I told him he ought to just work in our parking lot, since I very much doubted that anyone would actually tell Jesse to stop working on the car that day. But finally, he groaned and went to it, deciding to just go over to work.
And when he got there, he gave me a call. Once he arrived at work and was about to grab some tools, he noticed a broken window in his boss's office. He ended up having to call the police, wait for them to arrive, give a report, and then wait for one of the head honchos at work to arrive and help him board up the broken window. (Apparently, Jesse's boss left his laptop on his desk in clear view of the window, and then didn't even close the blinds before he left - so someone walking by could see an easy target. Yikes.) So, despite Jesse's intentions, the spark plugs still weren't taken care of this weekend.
But the heat works, and very nicely, I might add! It warmed up my feet quite well on our way to church on Sunday.
Jesse says he'll try and work on those spark plugs ASAP. We have a great forecast ahead of us, with nothing but gorgeous weather for October. Sorry to make some of you jealous... but, just have a look!!!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Quoth Melinda
Melinda seems to have very selective hearing, as is often the case with children. Or even adults. But it's something we often struggle with. If we say, for instance, "Melinda, can you throw this away in the kitchen garbage, please?" She'll yell, "WHAT?" ... "Melinda. Please throw this away in the kitchen garbage." ... "WHAT??" Making direct eye contact, and now speaking as clearly as possible: "Could you, please, go. throw. this. in the. garbage??" .... "What do you want me to do, Mommy??"
Sigh.
Many conversations go like that. Sometimes you have to yell her name loudly just to get her attention, if she's really caught up in what she's doing.
So imagine today, Melinda wanted to have a sandwich, with pickles on it, for lunch. She said so on the car drive home. Repeatedly. She made sure I didn't miss her request.
We got home, got our church clothes off, took care of Alex's needs, and put dinner in the crock pot. Melinda and Jacob are playing animatedly in the playroom about 20 feet away, not paying any attention to myself or Jesse. I say, "Oh, I know, I'll have some leftover soup for lunch. It needs to be eaten, after all." I pause, then say, "I don't really want to make sandwiches, either."
At this very moment, Melinda yells from the playroom,
"What did you say, Mommy???"
Oh, right. My daughter who can't understand a word I say when I'm talking to her clearly and directly can suddenly hear me, clearly, from a mile away when I mention out loud that I might not like to make the lunch of her choice.
How her ears picked up that single word of sandwich, I'm sure I'll never know.
Sigh.
Many conversations go like that. Sometimes you have to yell her name loudly just to get her attention, if she's really caught up in what she's doing.
So imagine today, Melinda wanted to have a sandwich, with pickles on it, for lunch. She said so on the car drive home. Repeatedly. She made sure I didn't miss her request.
We got home, got our church clothes off, took care of Alex's needs, and put dinner in the crock pot. Melinda and Jacob are playing animatedly in the playroom about 20 feet away, not paying any attention to myself or Jesse. I say, "Oh, I know, I'll have some leftover soup for lunch. It needs to be eaten, after all." I pause, then say, "I don't really want to make sandwiches, either."
At this very moment, Melinda yells from the playroom,
"What did you say, Mommy???"
Oh, right. My daughter who can't understand a word I say when I'm talking to her clearly and directly can suddenly hear me, clearly, from a mile away when I mention out loud that I might not like to make the lunch of her choice.
How her ears picked up that single word of sandwich, I'm sure I'll never know.
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