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Thursday, September 22, 2011

I hate bunk beds. And it gets worse from there.

The day started off great. It really did. I got all 5 kids up, dressed, fed, and in the van. Dropped the older 3 off at school then came tearing back to town to drop Alex off, and then Daniel and I came home.

First mission accomplished. By 8:00am, I might add.

Then I decided that I was going to strip all of the beds and change all of the sheets. That's when it started to go downhill.

Yes, that is the pile of 5 sets of sheets after I got all of the beds stripped. Then the real fun began.

Enter the cordless drill/screwdriver, to replace the slat that somehow managed to get ripped out from under the top bunk in the boys' room.

Of course, having the top mattress pulled out made me notice that Alex (the bottom sleeper) has been once again ripping at the underside of the mattress - which I had already covered with fabric once. Enter the staple gun to repair the torn fabric.

Enter the packing tape to try to salvage the plastic sheet, which has also been shredded by Mr. I Can't Keep My Hands Off Of Anything.

Oh, did I mention that I practically knocked myself out by standing up too quickly while making Emily's bed and slamming my head into the bottom of Sarah's top bunk? No? Well, I did. And I have the lump to prove it.

So something as simple as changing the sheets has now needed a cordless drill/screwdriver, a staple gun, packing tape, and a near-concussion. I was not happy. But I got all of the beds done. As in stripped, washed, changed, clean sheets put away, everything.



Then there were some projects in the girls' room that I wanted to get taken care of - nothing major, but those nagging little things. Like finding a longer pull chain for their ceiling fan, figuring out how to replace the middle drawer in their desk, and putting the door back onto a cabinet. I found some scrap wood in the garage, broke out the circular saw, cut it to size, glued what needed to be glued and clamped it together on the kitchen table to let the glue dry before figuring out how to attach it to the desk. A quick jaunt to the hardware store and $10 later and I had everything else that I needed.

Of course, in between all of this, I had to pick the boys up from school. So I got Alex, came home and started working on putting new hinges on the cabinet.

Then we went to get Daniel. This is where the day went to hell.

Alex and I went into the school to get him. On the way back to the van, Alex was pitching a fit about something - I don't even remember what it was. He opened up the sliding door on his side - and when I say "opened" I really mean that he grabbed that door and slid it open as hard as he possibly could, slamming it back as far as it would go on the track. I was on the opposite side, getting Daniel in, and Alex sat down in his seat with his attitude. I went around to close the door.

It wouldn't close. Like, it really wouldn't close.

My nice, shiny, new-to-me van was broken.

I maintained a semblance of calm, but I was in a panic. Ex1 was heading back to my house with the older 3 kids, and I was sitting at Daniel's school with a door that wouldn't close. So I called him and told him what was going on and asked him to just meet me there. I messed around with the door and found that the wheels in the middle of the door were off the track. OK, that should be simple to fix, right?

No.

I lifted the door slightly to see if the wheels would slide back into the track, and the whole door almost fell off of the van. I got it back somewhat into place and thought. And thought. And thought. I sent out a panic message on facebook, hoping that someone local could come help me - no luck. Finally Ex1 got there with the other kids, and between the two of us we got the van door shut, and found out in the meantime that one of the wheels that's supposed to be in the little track was actually broken off of the assembly. My darling Alex slammed the door so hard that he broke the wheel. He broke my van.

We got home and I made supper and called around to get prices. The part appears to be fairly simple to replace - and we all know that I've done more than my share of car repairs - but the part is going to run $80 to get a new one. Yeah, right. NOT. I'll be calling junkyards tomorrow - it's been a long time since I've gone junking for car parts, so that will be fun. Sort of.

Supper was good. Emily had gone with Ex1 to a football game so that just left the other 4 kids and me. We decided on the spur-of-the-moment to eat outside, so that made for much less mess to clean.

But, I got the cabinet door put back on, got the longer chains put on the ceiling fans in both bedrooms, gave everyone baths, and everyone is still alive.










Tomorrow is another day. And I might be out of Diet Pepsi, but I have the next best thing.

14 comments:

  1. omg what a day, although you seem to be more bloody handy with power tools that i ever would be, i mean what the hell is a circular saw is that like a normal saw but its round lol? i ain't joking .. me and DiY is like.. infact i don't know what to compare that to..

    Can't believe your boy broke your van door and you managed to stay calm though, i would have went into a rage from hell lol, but i think that's probably my scottish blood coming out.

    Glad you got through the day no matter how much hell it was, and you got a nice beer to finish it off with :) Great post really made my morning.

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    1. Do your kids still have the bunk bed or did you take them down

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    2. Me and my wife were thinking about getting bunk beds for our kids we don't know if we should do it or not what are your opinions about the plastic mattress covers do they actually keep the mattresses clean can you still use plastic mattress covers on your kids beds

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  2. Dude....I have done so much work around the house and on my old van - I have all the tools that most guys would love to have!

    OK that sounded bad but you know what I mean.

    And yeah, I have some Scottish blood in me too - not a bunch, but I can blame my temper on that when I need to. I'm amazed that I kept it together as well as I did, but needless to say Alex did not have an enjoyable evening, as he spent most of it in bed.

    And this beer is goooooooooooooooooooood.

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  3. That sounds like the day from heck.
    I'm sorry!

    But, you know it could have been much much worse.
    Alex could have slammed the door open SO HARD, that not only did the door break... but it could have fell off the hinges, and landed right on him... See? Much worse?

    Feel better? No? Drat... I tried.

    **HUGS**

    Better? YES! Excellent!

    Come check out todays post.
    I'm a horrible mother.
    =(

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  4. BREATHE, COMPANY COMING TODAY TO DUST AND TAKEOUT. I SAY TO BAD. TAKE OUT OR BRING YOUR OWN.LOL


    GRANNY

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  5. OMg Amy!! I was with you till the door came off the hinge...and I'm in Gma mode now where things are adorable, but I don't I could have kept my cool!! U win mom of the year!! Altho, I have to say when the kids were young, if I was ever to angry to speak, they KNEW it was BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!
    oh, and BTW, who the heck has a circular saw hangin' in the wings??? well, our Amy does! You are an impressive lady...also glad Ex1 was able to meet up and to give a hand!
    Here's hoping the next few days (at the least) are pleasant and uneventful!!!
    Mare

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  6. I love my circular saw. It's one of my favorite toys. LOL

    Yeah, it definitely could have been worse, and as I'm calling around to get prices and stuff, I'm finding out that this particular "breakage" is not all that uncommon. I'm still mad, but I'll get over it.

    Good news is that the junkyard here in town will most likely have the part for me - they have a few vans in the yard and they have to check and see if that part is still on them or not. But if they have it, they're only going to charge me $20 for it.

    *happy dance*

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  7. ugh, I HATE my daughter's bunk bed! Changing the sheets and making the bed on the top bunk takes acrobatic skills I just don't have. I sometimes feel an urge to "accidentally" break the bunk bed with a chainsaw.

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  8. Oh Christi, I am so with you there! The boys' can actually be separated into 2 twins, but there just isn't enough room in that room for 3 beds. The girls' can't be separated at all. :(

    The joys of squishing 5 kids into 2 bedrooms....

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  9. Ok. now I'm just trolling around. Lurking over all your post I've read and posts I've been too busy to.... Love them all. Just thought I would drop you a line to let you know - still love the funny stories.
    Kristen

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  10. Do your kids still have the bunk bed or did you take apart their bunk bed

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  11. Do your kids still have their bunk bed or did you get rid of their bunk bed or take them down

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    Replies
    1. Hi there! We eventually moved into a different home and I got rid of the bunk beds finally because all of the kids have their own rooms now. They definitely served their purpose while we had them, but I thrilled to not have to deal with them anymore! :)

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