Games

David wanted to watch the game.  Andrew suggested the radio.  Rachel tried getting the game on my computer.  (largest screen)  Eventually, David, who was totally against the radio idea suggested listening on the radio.

David is not anywhere near the radio any more...

Overheard

A: "Alex can spell 'what'! W-H-...what??"

Overheard

A: "N, you're so bossy!" said in a snotty tone of voice.

N: "Well, you are too!" said in an equally snotty tone.

test went well

Maxed out the score on the reading portion, but that isn't surprising.

Math, on the other hand, was quite a bit more difficult.  I stared at the fractions and drew a total blank.  Though I did get a few of them right.  The test switched from elementary algebra to arithmetic.  And it was still tough.

But registration begins on the 30th.  I just need to speak with an advisor and see where to go from there.

25 pounds

I am now officially 25 pound lighter than I was in May of this year.

I am able to squeeze into my size 16 jeans.  Which is a very good thing considering my other 2 pairs had either too many holes to wear modestly OR one hole in a very critical place.

Quite a few more to go before I am where I think I will be comfortable.

Guess I'd better get back into the swing of things with monitoring my eating again & exercising more than just walking girls to school & back.

Happy Birthday!

To all of our beloved Marines:

Happy 235th Birthday!

Semper Fi!

Hanging out, Miss E's new trick, Girls & Miss A's birthday

The week of water...

Has hopefully ended!

Last night Miss A called me to come to the bathroom.  The tub had overflowed because a washcloth was strategically placed over the drain.  Out came the towels that had previously been used to clean up the water from the dishwasher, sat in the remaining 3 inches of water in the washer after the garage flooded, and had finally been dried and were waiting to be re-washed.  Yep.  Those towels.

And in other news, not one but two of our church members were involved in vehicle accidents this week.  Tony and his wife served as missionaries for 30 some years before they retired and moved back to the US.  Tony was walking along the sidewalk of the assisted living facility where they live when he started across a driveway.  He had headphones on and did not see or hear the garbage truck that hit him.  PRAISE GOD THAT THIS MORNING TONY WAS WALKING NORMALLY!  He did not have any broken bones, concussion, anything.  Just some nasty looking bruises.

The other accident involved our pastor's wife.  I am not sure of all the details, but the damage to her car was more than what the car was worth.  She also walked away from the accident.  PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROTECTION!

So, our little church is getting a bit of a shaking and a reminder that we have prayed that we will learn to be dependent on God for everything.  It is tough, but kinda fun to see how God is working in each of our lives as we learn more about having a radical commitment to God.

A dishwasher, a washing machine and rain part 1

Alternately titled: Water, water everywhere.  And not a drop you'd want to drink!

Tuesday we awoke to the sounds of rain, thunder, and lightning.  It was about 3:20 in the morning.  Michael & I laid in bed and listened to the sounds and watched the light show.  I wondered if our house was going to be hit since a couple of times it appeared that the lightning was striking within a block or less of our house.  The strongest part of the storm finally passed about 4:45.  Michael & I were both still awake.  Michael's alarm rang at 5 am.  Time to get moving for the day.  We gathered everything we had laid out the night before and fixed Michael's breakfast and coffee.  He had a PT test that morning so he needed to take the truck.  I kissed him goodbye, promising that I would call a fellow mom if it was still lightning when it was time to leave for school.

About 6:30, I got the girls out of bed and going for the day.  N was recently selected to participate on the safety patrol at school.  She assists with opening & closing car doors as the children are dropped off at school.  So, this meant we needed to be at school earlier than what we had been getting there.  I asked the girls to pick out something they wanted to wear to school and give it to me.  Then they were to dress in an alternate outfit.  I placed the girl's clothing and backpacks in plastic bags and sealed them.  Just before we walked out the door, the rain started again.  By the time we got to school, the girls were soaked from the knees down.  Their jackets did well with keeping the top half dry.  But our sidewalks flood in heavy rains.  In some places it was over their ankles.

Once we arrived at the school, I had Miss A change into dry clothes and sent her off to class.  I went to tell Miss N's teacher that she was going to change clothing after she was off duty.  N's teacher asked if I was still planning to come take pictures for the yearbook that morning.  I knew I had something going on but I had not been able to remember what it was.  Well, I was supposed to take pictures... 

I walked home and grabbed my camera.  I sealed it in another plastic bag to keep it dry and walked back to the school.  As I was coming home, I noticed our truck was in the driveway.  Michael ended up getting off work early because they lost power.  Not a bad thing as I still had 2 more trips to make to the school before the day was over. 

In between the 2nd and 3rd trip, I made cookie dough.  I was taking cookies in for Miss A's birthday.  Between the 3rd & 4th trips, I baked the cookies. 

Miss A was very excited to see her daddy walk into the classroom too.  The kids were not so excited about cookies though.  I had one ask me if they were getting cupcakes too. 

The rain has definitely been a blessing.  We have not had any rain in several weeks.  But, it made for an interesting day.

A dishwasher, a washing machine and rain part 2

Tuesday night I began to clear any extra dishes off the counters.  I was making pancakes for Miss A's birthday dinner.  After I unloaded the diswasher, I noticed there was a bit of standing water in the bottom.  I dismissed it at first.  That is, I dismissed it until I noticed the puddle of water steadily growing on the floor.

I quickly called for towels and Michael & I sopped up some of the water.  I decided that before we called our landlord I would quickly see if there was an online owner's manual for our particular model.  Sure enough there was.  I found the troubleshooting guide and followed their instructions for draining the tub.  It took several times of repeating the instructions, as the guide suggested it might, before the tub of the dishwasher was emptied of water.  We are not sure what caused the backup of water, but I am thankful that we were able to clean it quickly AND figure out how to fix the problem. 

Miss A's birthday dinner went well, though it was a bit later than expected.  I was glad that we had decided to open a few presents before I went to start dinner!

A dishwasher, a washing machine and rain part 3

We have finally unpacked most of the remaining boxes in our garage.  Not the way we had planned, but they are unpacked.   And I might be able to park the truck in the garage soon!

Miss A was home with a fever yesterday.  So, Michael took Miss N & our next door neighbor's boy to church last night.

In an effort to catch up on all the laundry created by the dishwasher fiasco, I was washing the towels used to clean up on Tuesday night.,

Our washer & dryer are in the garage.  I was listening to the washer fill with water and realized that very soon I would need to switch the towels into the dryer.  Easy, right?

After about 10 or 15 minutes, I realized that I was still hearing the washer fill with water.  Suspicious, I went to check things out.  I turned on the light in the garage and was shocked to see water all over the floor of the garage!  I hurried over to the washer and turned it off.  Still water gushed out.  I realized that the hose that connects to the drain had become disconnected from the back of the washer.  Oh no!!  I slid it on and the water stopped coming out.

I took a look around.  The two boxes closest to the washer were soaked.  As I emptied them, I discovered they both had almost an inch of standing water.  Fortunately, the only things in them that were waterlogged were the hubcap covers for the extra set of rims we have.

In all, I think that about 8-10 boxes were affected.  Not to mention all of Michael's uniforms that he had pulled out and tossed on the floor.  More laundry.  Great. 

I had called Michael to let him know what had happened and he & Miss N helped out when they got home.  It was the end, I hope, of a wet week.