Vehicles and Beds...

This is just going to be a quickie to answer some specific questions that have been posed several times over the past few weeks. I figured it was easier to just do it here....

The girls' beds....this is basically what they turned out looking like.

The first one is Emily's. She wanted hers to be lower than Sarah did, so this is what she and I designed. It's all just 3/4" plywood and there's a piece on the back (against the wall) to keep anything that is shoved into the cubbies from going out the other side - and to make the whole thing sturdier.

We are going to do the zebra duct tape on all of the edges - it's easier than sanding them all down and it looks cool. I think she's eventually going to paint the inside of the cubbies too, but that's up to her to decide.

Sarah wanted taller, so she designed hers to be taller - although it would drive me insane. I did put a second piece of plywood across the top of hers to further reinforce it to support the weight of her and her mattress. So far she has opted not to paint hers - we'll see if she changes her mind or not.

Both of the beds just take a standard twin-sized mattress. They are heavy and they are not going anywhere. Literally. They won't fit through the doors of the rooms.

Now on to the bigger question.....

The vehicle.

I still don't know what to call it. It's not really a van, or a car, or an SUV. I think technically it's a crossover, whatever that means.

Anyway......

My minivan died a few months ago, shortly after I paid it off. So I had to get something different.  But, I was in the middle of financing the house, so I couldn't run out and finance something else and risk screwing up my credit, right?

Enter the GrandpaCar - the Grand Marquis - I bought it from a friend's grandfather because I needed something that the kids and I could all fit into, but not have to be financed. It worked for us, but it was very crowded and uncomfortable.

I kept putting money aside into what I was calling the "house/van" fund - money to be used for both. I also got a very sizable tax refund which went straight into that fund. Once the house was settled and we closed and we had gotten done with the initial "big" expenses, I did some figuring and decided that I could start looking for another minivan. So I called a couple of the local dealerships and basically said "I need something used, inexpensive, mechanically sound, and can seat 7 - find it for me" and turned them loose.

One of them called me back the next day and said "I know you said minivan, but what about a Traverse? It seats 8....." The Dude and I went and looked at it with no intentions of buying it at all - I really just wanted to see how something that was NOT a minivan could seat 8 people. Long story short, I liked it. We went back home and I researched it and liked what I could find on the safety stuff and whatnot, and the price that they had on it was a couple of thousand below the blue book value. So we started talking money and I said that I was thinking about just scrapping my dead van - instead the dealership sent a couple of guys out to the house to look at it and they ended up offering me an insane (to me) amount of money in trade.

Between what they were asking for the Traverse, what I could afford to put down, and what they gave me for the dead van, I was able to get the payments under where I wanted them to be AND get a really good warranty on it. At that point, I would be stupid to not get it.....so I got it. I kept the GrandpaCar  for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that I have a kid who will be driving in a few months - and whether she likes it or not, she can drive that. And since The Dude's truck is iffy at times, he can drive it when he needs to go out of town or whatever.

Any other questions? :)

A new start

Today was the day. My first day of work in almost 6 years.

I had to stop and really think about when the last time was that I worked. Daniel was just a bitty baby, maybe a month old - and I remember working that last shift all too well now because when I got home that night, the person who was supposed to be caring for him was passed out drunk. At that point, I knew that I couldn't continue to work unless I found a daycare that I could trust...but I wasn't allowed to do that. So instead, I stayed home.

I don't regret it a bit. I loved being at home. But now that the kids are in school, it'll be nice to go back to work even for just a few hours a week. The little bit of spending money will be nice, but I think just getting out of the house and having real live adult interaction on a regular basis will be the best part of it!

My first shift was good - it was a bit overwhelming, but it was good. I'm worn out and I was only there for a few hours, but I'll get used to that eventually. I'm actually looking forward to going back tomorrow, so that's a good thing!

Anyway, the day started out with the normal running around to get the kids to school. The ice was still coating everything, but the sun was shining bright and made for some good shots along the way - although the stupid flash kept going off and so you can see every speck of dirt on my windshield. Boo.

I did actually stop and roll down the window to get this
shot - and a bunch more. The deer are almost always
in this same spot, but usually not this many of them at once.

You can even see the ice on the power lines.

I just thought this was cool after getting the other picture
of them the other day.

Thanks, universe. I think.

At least it was pretty outside today.

I have had this van for almost 2 years now.

At the moment, I have a very tenuous love/hate relationship with it - but leaning more toward the 'hate' side of things. There are some things going wrong with it that are starting to make me nervous, and we're beginning to think about maybe getting rid of it a bit sooner than we had initially thought.

But one of the things about it that I've always enjoyed was the fact that the windshield was intact. The Escort that I had way-back-when had a cracked windshield. The Mom-Mobile that I got after that one had a cracked windshield. The She-Beast (surprise) had a cracked windshield. I have done everything in my power - even dodged flying boulders - to avoid having a cracked windshield on this one.

But it happened today. We were cruising along the highway and *smack* a rock hit the windshield, right in front of The Dude's face. I looked over and might have let out a slightly-louder-than-necessary expletive or two when I saw it. Of course at that point there was nothing that I could do, other than to keep driving.

I dropped The Dude and his mother back off at their house and went straight to the windshield place. I could tell just from looking at it that if I don't do something about it relatively quickly, the cracks are going to spread and I'm going to have to replace the whole thing.

Of course. I was all excited about having a little bit of extra money this month. Not much, but a little. Thanks, universe.

The guy could have fixed it today. I had the money and the time, and he was sitting in his shop, bored. Then he realized that he left his repair kit in his truck. At home. Thirty miles away from the shop. Thanks, universe.

So I'll take it back tomorrow, and hope that the cracks don't increase between now and then because of the cold weather and having to do the 30-mile run to get the kids to school in the morning. Oh, and if you look closely enough, you'll see that there are actually two chips - not just one. Tack an extra $5 onto the charge and about an extra 15-30 minutes onto the repair time for that one because they're a fraction of an inch too far apart to be considered one chip. Thanks, universe.

Great. Now I have to kill an hour sitting in a repair shop in the morning, when I have so many other things to do. Thanks, universe.

Hey, wait. I have an hour to kill. An hour of time where I will have nothing to do and no kids because they'll all be in school. Remember my 70 day plan? Well, it's now down to 67 days - and I now have an hour tomorrow to put toward it.

Hey, thanks, universe!

Perspective. Sometimes we just need to change it.

The snowpocalypse that wasn't.

You would have thought that the world was going to end over the past few days. The meteorologists were calling for massive amounts of snow that would surely mean the end of life as we knew it.

Granted, this part of Kansas doesn't get that much snow. But still, it happens. It's a fact of life. It's nothing to get all sorts of worked up about, but people do anyway.

Snow doesn't bother me. I grew up getting a lot more snow on a regular basis than Kansas gets in one of its "massive" storms. So I laugh when they forecast a snowpocalypse. And it irritates people, I know.

Anyway, the forecasters were pretty close this time, in some areas. I think we were supposed to get 8-16" according to one report, and according to the ruler stuck in my front yard, we topped out at 7" exactly. To me, it definitely wasn't worth all of the pre-storm hype. But, that's just me.

Anyway, here are a few pictures. Keep in mind that my camera (my wonderfully fabulous new-to-me camera) took a flying leap off of my desk and hit the hardwood floor the other day thanks to an overly rambunctious child who shall remain unnamed. So it's not focusing right. So some of these (the blurryish ones) were taken with the camera and some were taken with my phone. I'm trying to see if I can get the camera to work again, because you know, I think I know what I'm doing. Or something.

The backyard, as it was starting to come down.

The Dude cleaning off his truck the next morning.

My van, when it was about done snowing.

Neighbor's tree. It looked really cool with the icicles on it.

My ghetto-riffic house after I shoveled as much as I was
going to shovel. 

Gigantic icicles on the side of my house. They're
actually about 18-20" long.

More icicles. I suppose this means that I should get up on the
garage roof and clean out the gutter again.
(after it thaws)

Driving through town tonight - not only did we have to deal
with the mountain of snow in the middle of the street, but we
also had to wait on a train.

Looking straight out of my side window at the pile
in the middle of the street.

I've heard rumors that we're supposed to get some more snow on top of this, and honestly - I'm ok with that. After the drought that we've been dealing with, we can definitely use the moisture. And considering that I live within walking distance of anything that I could possibly need in this town, it can snow all it wants to - because I can still do what I need to do.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Not exactly what I had planned...

OK, seriously, when your day starts off with a sunrise like this, what can possibly go wrong? Really?

Wrong question to ask.

My plans for the day were fairly simple.

Get the kids to school. Come home and clean and whatnot. Get the kids from school. Make supper. Have The Dude come over and watch the kids for about 2 hours while I go to a meeting. Come home. Hang out. Put kids in bed.

Easy, right?

HA!

I got the kids to school. I came home and putzed around and didn't do much of anything for a while.

Then, it happened.....*cue ominous music*

The Dude called me from work to ask me to bring some ibuprofen or something to him because his back was hurting. I had just gotten a shower so I finished getting ready and ran across town to give him the medicine. I could tell that he was hurting - badly. But he had to wait for his boss to get there before he could leave so I came back home.

He called me again a little later. And it's one of those calls that no one ever wants to get.

"Babe, can you come and get me and take me to the ER? I can barely breathe because it hurts so bad."

I took off and got him from work and he was miserable. We got to the hospital and it was all he could do to walk in the door. It was busy but luckily they got him in fairly quickly - and then we waited. I had to leave to get the boys from school so I took off across town. As I was driving, I called a friend of mine to see if she could watch the boys for a couple of hours, and luckily she agreed so I told her that I would be there as soon as I got them. I hung up and called Ex1 to explain what was happening and to ask him if he could just keep the older three kids instead of bringing them to me, and he agreed. I got the boys, dumped them at my friend's house, and got back to the hospital about 30 minutes after I had left.

He had gotten the xrays done by that time and was even more miserable than when I left him half an hour earlier. The doctor came back and said that things looked ok on the xrays and that it did not appear that his lung was collapsed (wait, what? you mean you thought that was a possibility???) and that it was a severe thoracic strain and the muscles were spasming. He got a couple of shots in the butt and a handful of prescriptions, and we left.

I dropped off the prescriptions and then we went back to his work to drop off the doctor's note and to lock up his truck since we were leaving it there, and then I took him back home and poured him into his bed. Then I left to go back to pick up the prescriptions and bring those back to him.

At that point I realized that if I rushed I could still make the meeting that I had planned to go to, so I raced home and changed my clothes and went to the meeting. While I was there, Ex1 called to let me know that Emily had forgotten some stuff she needed for school but not to worry about getting it to her since she was the one who forgot it. We touched base about a few other things and then I went back to the meeting.

After the meeting, I went to my friend's to pick up the boys, back over to The Dude's house to get some money, ran out to get him some food, and then took the food to him - and then finally got the boys home. They ate a late supper and fell asleep on the couch.

Emily texted me about the stuff that she forgot - apparently the lines of communication got crossed and she thought that I was bringing it to her tonight. I talked to her and Ex1 and we decided that there was no way I was doing it tonight (25 miles round trip at bedtime for the boys? I think not...) but I would bring it out in the morning after I drop the boys off - but only because if things hadn't been so crazy tonight she would have been able to get it and would have had it for tomorrow.

And then to top it all off.....

I had gotten a message while all of this was happening that the blankity-blank-blank Tooth Fairy letter had been posted on cheezburger(dot)com. I didn't worry about it too much at the time because, well......I was busy. I looked into it tonight, and sure enough it's on there - under the "Parenting Fails". And yeah, that bugs me. It was just a silly letter, and it's totally being taken out of context and it's driving me nuts. And I know that it shouldn't bother me, but it does.

But it's also a good reminder that judgmental people suck.

Christmas, Part I. And stuff.

The older 4 kids have been gone for a couple of days, so it was just me and Daniel for calendar-Christmas. He and I went to church last night...but not before he fell asleep on the floor after his bath. I got him back up and took him to church, where he proceeded to sleep through about 95% of the service.

I made special arrangements with Santa this year. He stopped by last night and dropped off just a couple of small presents for Daniel to open this morning, and then he's coming back tonight to bring EVERYTHING and to fill the stockings so that when all of the kids come home tomorrow, we can have our family Christmas.

Then Daniel and I went out to a friend's house and hung out with her for the afternoon. It was just a totally relaxed, laid-back day......but it's cold outside!

Along with being incredibly cold outside, it's almost as cold in my laundry room. From what I can tell, it used to be a porch and someone just slapped some drywall on the inside and some siding on the outside and called it a laundry room - but neglected to put insulation in the walls. It gets bitter cold in there in the wintertime, to the point that it is almost unbearable to walk across the floor without shoes on - which for me is horrible, since I hate to wear shoes.

Out of curiosity tonight, I grabbed the only thermometer that I have and I put it on the floor in there for a few minutes.

Yeah. It's that cold in there.

Next project? Adding to the bottom of the curtain across the laundry room doorway to keep that cold air from pouring across the kitchen floor. That might even be done tonight. Like, in the next hour.

At the moment, however, I'm waiting for The Dude to come back over. He got here a bit ago - on foot - because his truck died a few blocks away from my house. So he took my van to go back and try to figure out what's going on with it and to see if he can at least get it parked somewhere safe if he can't move it. Then we are getting up early early early in the morning to finish shopping for the kids before they get back home.

Sleep is definitely overrated at this point.

The first snow

So we got about an inch of snow overnight, coupled with a lot of wind. The drive to get the older 3 kids to school this morning was a bit of a challenge, but it wasn't horrible. What could normally be done in maybe 40 minutes took closer to an hour, but I took my time and didn't rush it.

Drifts created by 1" of snow and a lot of wind.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, house....

My pathetic flowerbed. Maybe I can call it modern art
or something.

Dead mums.

He wanted to go outside to play in the worst way.

SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!!

Then we took off to deliver the popcorn that Alex sold for Scouts....

Within the city limits, by the way....

....and her friend.

It wouldn't be a normal day without getting stuck by one of these.

Heading back from a friend's house "out in the country".

So that was our first snowpocalypse of the season. I'm sure that there will be many more with the way that the local media hypes up every single snowflake that may or may not fall. This one was actually a little worse than I expected, but it still wasn't much as far as I was concerned. It's going to be back up closer to 50 degrees tomorrow, so it's all going to be gone anyway....but I did hear a rumor that we might get some more snow on Christmas Day.  I'll believe it when I see it though.