Hubs and I have spent quite a bit of time this evening discussing crabby people/situations and their effect on us.
Folks, it isn't pretty.
Hubs' digestive issues get him down. Sometimes that can make him crabby and occasionally can make me crabby.
My mom will call, yell at me for something dumb, then I will be crabby.
Hubs gets unappreciative and nasty people to his programs sometimes. That makes him crabby.
K- gets the 'I wants,' it makes me crabby, her crabby and Hubs crabby.
The furnace was acting up. While it is completely fixed now after simply rubbing a scotch brite pad against some rod, it made both of us concerned and slightly crabby. After all, it is only 4 1/2 years old. Still. We replaced the furnace filter, which had been replaced in October and it made no difference. We replaced the batteries in the thermostat and the next morning, I woke to the gas igniting and shutting down. We worried that the house would go cold and cause plumbing issues, among other things.
Hubs pulls something when he works out and that can make him crabby.
This week K- had a situation with M-, her autistic bully. The situation seemed innocent enough, as it was an exchange of pictures that each of the children drew. It was a fantastic move forward for both K- and M- in light of the struggles that each has had with the other. Then I saw the picture. Leaving out details, the drawing was from an Autistic child who definitely has some very pronounced social issues. Knowing that, but knowing what he drew, I wrote a letter to the teacher and sent the picture back. K- was upset that I was taking the picture, a figurative white flag to her. I bluntly explained what her dad and I saw in the picture then she understood our having taken the actions we did. Still, it made her crabby until she understood.
My brother is doing absolutely awesome, but he is still without a license and won't drive for fear of imprisonment if he should be picked up. I don't blame him. That leaves us to share the transportation. Mom calls, runs down the mileage she has logged, amount she has put out in gas . . . I take him, too. I never keep count of gas or mileage. I am doing the Lord's work. My brother is doing better than he has in more years than I can tell you. This evening, Hubs and I discussed about how we stand by what we told my brother. As long as he is making positive changes in his life, we will back him. Our backing him means that we are going to lose out on the opportunity to have lunch with Hubs at work tomorrow, but we have rescheduled that date. Still, I brought up to my mother that because I need to take my brother tomorrow, I will miss the opportunity to schedule something fun for K-. "Well I'm sorry that I'm messing up your plans with YOUR DAUGHTER."
By nature, I'm the fixer. As the middle child, I've done everything that I can do to keep the peace within the family. It's my God given job. Still, there are days that I find the job utterly taxing. Isn't it Mother Teresa who said, "God only gives you what you can handle, I just wished that he didn't trust me so much?"
It brings us to this-- take it in, process it and let it go. It has been my mantra for quite some time, but I need to be reminded of it. I take to heart too much of what happens. I lie awake praying about my friend C- and her breast biopsy. I worried and prayed about K-'s stomach ache Monday night. I'll pray through the night for Hubs and my brother. I see people losing their houses. I see financial hardship. I encounter crabby people throughout my day and that can bring me down.
Take it in, process it and let it go. I need to.
Smiles in my day:
- K's class Valentine party. The kids really had a great time.
- Mrs. H-'s thank you note to us. Really quite sweet and written from the heart.
- The neighbors going out with shovels in hand and shoveling the end of all of our driveways after the snow plow came through. They were working in a pack of three. K- yelled thank you out to them. How nice!
- C- called to check in. In light of everything, she is doing well.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Snow!
I promised snow pictures from this weekend. Here goes!
The RAV? Remember that it is red.
The Tercel? It is under there, I promise. 
Ah! See! I promised it was there. Hubs is in the car, thinking that he can actually back up over the remainder of the snow that he didn't shovel. He ended up having to get out and shovel more.
Hard to see because of all the blowing and drifting, but this was our road. One set of tracks. 
So there is Hubs continuing to shovel, all the while apologizing that he won't have time to dig me out. 
It took two of us, but we shoveled, Hubs pushed, I rocked the car back and forth and we got him on the secondary and on his way.
Then I came back to deal with this.
And this.
But look! I found the RAV. I couldn't reach the roof, though. I drove with the mile high snow up there until it blew off. 
Our roof snow drift.
Our wonderful neighbor and his testosterone powered snow blower.
After an hour, I managed to have the driveway looking like this.
Another view of our roof drift. We'll talk more about that later.
A happy kid in deep snow.
The sidewalk. I loved how you could see the carved walls that the snow blowers left behind all the way down to the end of the road.
On to the igloo. This is part way into piling the snow.
As staff photographer, it is my job to stop and take as many pictures as I can. Look at the snow and the shadow. It makes me want to lick the computer monitor. Delicous.
Deep foot prints. 
Remember that roof drift? Well, it had grown to 4 feet and Hubs was concerned for the structural safety of the house. Most of the snow rested on the outer portion of the eaves and were filling the gutters. He didn't want structural damage to the eaves or to have the gutters let loose. Hubs stayed home from church on Sunday so that he could use a variety of garden tools to free our home of the monster snow drift. 
K- helping with the igloo. She was helping to pack the snow.
Hubs adding more to the pile.
K- was shoveling, too. 
A sight not often seen in our neighborhood-- the SNOW PLOW! As staff photographer, it was my job to catch the picture of the plow, as it is as rare for us to see as an Eagle nesting on our property. (No, Eagles don't nest here.) 
A girl and her borrowed dog (AKA Brandy the next door dog who thinks she lives here) watching the snow plow.
More snow packing. K- was good at that!
I went to the grocery, came back and there had been a hole dug!
A cozy igloo big enough for three. K- is modeling it for us here.
Hubs putting the final touches on the doorway.
Hubs modeling with the igloo. Just for reference, Hubs is 6' tall.
My happy people INSIDE of the igloo.
My claustrophobic self inside of the igloo, but with my head at the opening. 
A happy Hubs!
The backside of the igloo. Gives you an idea of the size of it in regard to our humble little home!
We had 15" of snow on Saturday, 4" Tuesday and 4" Wednesday. We're sitting on nearly 2 feet of snow! For the last few days, I've needed to leave work in the middle of the afternoon, pick K- up from school, run her out to my in-law's house and run back to work. My MIL doesn't like to drive in the snow and bless her heart, she tried to go Wednesday afternoon to get her, got about a mile down the road and had to turn around and go back home. It is a bonus to working at a mom and pop. They had no problem in my going to retrieve my child, drop her off and come back. Very nice!
Smiles in my day:
- Getting the driveway shoveled just before Hubs got home. I finished my last flick of snow just as Hubs was coming down the drive.
- We're going to need to free the igloo from the snow drift that is developing at the opening.
- K- got her Valentines done and helped me to put her little bags together. Sixlets are a safe peanut treat, so we put those in, a pencil and her homemade Valentine. She was thrilled to help assemble the bags.
- Hubs going out tonight, regardless of the bad roads, to pick K- up so that I could come home because I didn't sleep. I didn't get to rest because of the driveway, but at least I had time to get it done.
Y'all, I'm tired! Have a great day!
The RAV? Remember that it is red.
The Tercel? It is under there, I promise. 
Ah! See! I promised it was there. Hubs is in the car, thinking that he can actually back up over the remainder of the snow that he didn't shovel. He ended up having to get out and shovel more.
Hard to see because of all the blowing and drifting, but this was our road. One set of tracks. 
So there is Hubs continuing to shovel, all the while apologizing that he won't have time to dig me out. 
It took two of us, but we shoveled, Hubs pushed, I rocked the car back and forth and we got him on the secondary and on his way.
Then I came back to deal with this.
And this.
But look! I found the RAV. I couldn't reach the roof, though. I drove with the mile high snow up there until it blew off. 
Our roof snow drift.
Our wonderful neighbor and his testosterone powered snow blower.
After an hour, I managed to have the driveway looking like this.
Another view of our roof drift. We'll talk more about that later.
A happy kid in deep snow.
The sidewalk. I loved how you could see the carved walls that the snow blowers left behind all the way down to the end of the road.
On to the igloo. This is part way into piling the snow.
As staff photographer, it is my job to stop and take as many pictures as I can. Look at the snow and the shadow. It makes me want to lick the computer monitor. Delicous.
Deep foot prints. 
Remember that roof drift? Well, it had grown to 4 feet and Hubs was concerned for the structural safety of the house. Most of the snow rested on the outer portion of the eaves and were filling the gutters. He didn't want structural damage to the eaves or to have the gutters let loose. Hubs stayed home from church on Sunday so that he could use a variety of garden tools to free our home of the monster snow drift. 
K- helping with the igloo. She was helping to pack the snow.
Hubs adding more to the pile.
K- was shoveling, too. 
A sight not often seen in our neighborhood-- the SNOW PLOW! As staff photographer, it was my job to catch the picture of the plow, as it is as rare for us to see as an Eagle nesting on our property. (No, Eagles don't nest here.) 
A girl and her borrowed dog (AKA Brandy the next door dog who thinks she lives here) watching the snow plow.
More snow packing. K- was good at that!
I went to the grocery, came back and there had been a hole dug!
A cozy igloo big enough for three. K- is modeling it for us here.
Hubs putting the final touches on the doorway.
Hubs modeling with the igloo. Just for reference, Hubs is 6' tall.
My happy people INSIDE of the igloo.
My claustrophobic self inside of the igloo, but with my head at the opening. 
A happy Hubs!
The backside of the igloo. Gives you an idea of the size of it in regard to our humble little home!We had 15" of snow on Saturday, 4" Tuesday and 4" Wednesday. We're sitting on nearly 2 feet of snow! For the last few days, I've needed to leave work in the middle of the afternoon, pick K- up from school, run her out to my in-law's house and run back to work. My MIL doesn't like to drive in the snow and bless her heart, she tried to go Wednesday afternoon to get her, got about a mile down the road and had to turn around and go back home. It is a bonus to working at a mom and pop. They had no problem in my going to retrieve my child, drop her off and come back. Very nice!
Smiles in my day:
- Getting the driveway shoveled just before Hubs got home. I finished my last flick of snow just as Hubs was coming down the drive.
- We're going to need to free the igloo from the snow drift that is developing at the opening.
- K- got her Valentines done and helped me to put her little bags together. Sixlets are a safe peanut treat, so we put those in, a pencil and her homemade Valentine. She was thrilled to help assemble the bags.
- Hubs going out tonight, regardless of the bad roads, to pick K- up so that I could come home because I didn't sleep. I didn't get to rest because of the driveway, but at least I had time to get it done.
Y'all, I'm tired! Have a great day!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bummer dude.
No snow day today. Bummer. My child is happy. I am not. You see, we got hit by a snowstorm yesterday. It was our second in 4 days. This one was expected to hit yesterday afternoon (it did), then we had a dry slot and it would pick up again. The dry slot pushed the moisture away and the second half of our big snowstorm fizzled. We did score at least 4" of snow. Still, I had it made up in my mind that we were going to have a snow day. K- could stay home, finish up the tail end of her Valentine's, I could bag the Valentine's, treats and whatnot.
Folks, I could have slept in. Though, I admit that would suggest that I actually slept in the first place.
I didn't.
So, I'm all tired, must get myself hopped up on caffeine to function and I'll be on my way.
The good news? We have a whole lot of snow for our snowshoeing adventure on Sunday. No big warm up in the near future, so we'll be good to go. :)
How's the weather treating you?
Prayer request:
My friend, C-, found a lump in her breast a couple of weeks ago, the doctor figured it as nothing but sent her for a mammogram just in case. The films came back a bit questionable. That necessitated an ultrasound of each of the girls. The ultrasound came back questionable. So, my friend is going tomorrow for a biopsy of the original lump that she found, but suspicious areas have been found in both breasts. Please consider praying for her.
Smiles in my day:
- Caffeine.
- Our internet is up and running again, though a bit spit-spotty since the box that makes this whole thing function is having intermittent convulsions. The boys (my neighbor and his friend) came over the other day, got everything rolling and hung out and talked for a while. I told them that they just like hanging out in my bedroom and love seeing only my best pajamas. (Hubs was there in the room and they were all laughing since I was covered from head to toe in fleece jammies and a fleece robe, socks and slippers.) I couldn't help but to tease them! :)
Have a great day!
Folks, I could have slept in. Though, I admit that would suggest that I actually slept in the first place.
I didn't.
So, I'm all tired, must get myself hopped up on caffeine to function and I'll be on my way.
The good news? We have a whole lot of snow for our snowshoeing adventure on Sunday. No big warm up in the near future, so we'll be good to go. :)
How's the weather treating you?
Prayer request:
My friend, C-, found a lump in her breast a couple of weeks ago, the doctor figured it as nothing but sent her for a mammogram just in case. The films came back a bit questionable. That necessitated an ultrasound of each of the girls. The ultrasound came back questionable. So, my friend is going tomorrow for a biopsy of the original lump that she found, but suspicious areas have been found in both breasts. Please consider praying for her.
Smiles in my day:
- Caffeine.
- Our internet is up and running again, though a bit spit-spotty since the box that makes this whole thing function is having intermittent convulsions. The boys (my neighbor and his friend) came over the other day, got everything rolling and hung out and talked for a while. I told them that they just like hanging out in my bedroom and love seeing only my best pajamas. (Hubs was there in the room and they were all laughing since I was covered from head to toe in fleece jammies and a fleece robe, socks and slippers.) I couldn't help but to tease them! :)
Have a great day!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Tales from the Trenches: Hooray!
Okay, I have to give this computer back in a few minutes, as the neighbor is bringing our computer back to us all hooked up wireless and everything. It has been lovely to have a computer, but I'd like my old one back.
A family of Eskimos would be very happy.
Folks, my husband spent 4 hours outside this afternoon building an igloo in our front yard. Oh, it is quite an igloo. K- helped and so did I, but it was 98% Hubs. The sucker is about 5 1/2 feet tall by about 7 feet wide. All three of us do fit inside, though I made sure to keep my head close to the entrance hole, as I'm horribly claustrophobic in situations such as that. Yes, I got many pictures and as soon as we are functioning on our own computer, I'll be able to post those as well as our snow storm pictures.
Speaking of, we had:
- 15" of snow
- 29" snow drifts
- A 7 hour delivery delay on the newspaper
- No mail delivery whatsoever, since mail trucks are rear wheel drive and don't drive on snowy streets that well. Keep in mind that our mail is brought in by the truck, but the carriers walk the neighborhood. Still, no mail carriers to be found.
- Hubs managed to get to work on time regardless of the unplowed expressways on the way there.
- The Children's Tea at the library still occurred, even though their original reservation list was for 60 and they had no where near that.
- After the tea, I painted the pigs of three little girls and the handies of two. We had Aunt Amy's Beauty Shop where I pulled out all of K-'s nail polish, nail rhinestones, nail stickers, the foot bath, massaging glass marbles and towels. The girls had a good time, even though my niece J- said that her feet had "the wiggles, Aunt Amy." Her paint job looked like she had the wiggles, too!
- The snow plow showed up! :)! It was so nice of them to show up! On a dead end, it is a rare occurrence, so I even took pictures. (Hubs says that I'm worse than a Japanese tourist with my camera.) The plow didn't even make all the swipes up and down the road when the festival of snow blowers were out in full force to free the ends of the driveways so that we could exit without baja-ing over a mountain of snow. Such nice neighbors we have!
- Hubs stayed home from church on Sunday to free our roof of some pretty heavy snow. We had managed to get a 4 foot snow drift on our roof that was growing by leaps and bounds over the gutter and hanging in mid air. Hubs was concerned about all of the weight on both the eaves and gutters, so he stayed home and used a variety of garden tools to remove it. He stopped in at Sears and bought a travel shovel for the car, which seemed to work out best. We've decided to have him leave it in his car, since he has had to dig himself out of a snow bank with a snow scraper. Hooray for Hubs watching out for our house! I knew that the drift was growing and was concerned about it, but didn't know how Hubs would be able to remove the snow. I'm glad that he didn't go up on the roof! I didn't want him to fall off!
We had a good weekend. Seems as though the Chex mix that I bought as Super Bowl munchies gave K- a monster stomach ache, so I have her suited up in case the Chex mix doesn't stay where she put it. Let's hope that the stomach ache is just from the Worcestershire's sauce like Hubs thinks that it is.
Smiles in my weekend:
- Included above.
Have a great day!
ETA:
K- woke up with a little bit of a belly ache, but ate a piece of dry toast and that soaked up whatever was left of the Chex Mix stomach ache problem. She's happily off at school, stomach ache free.
Speaking of, we had:
- 15" of snow
- 29" snow drifts
- A 7 hour delivery delay on the newspaper
- No mail delivery whatsoever, since mail trucks are rear wheel drive and don't drive on snowy streets that well. Keep in mind that our mail is brought in by the truck, but the carriers walk the neighborhood. Still, no mail carriers to be found.
- Hubs managed to get to work on time regardless of the unplowed expressways on the way there.
- The Children's Tea at the library still occurred, even though their original reservation list was for 60 and they had no where near that.
- After the tea, I painted the pigs of three little girls and the handies of two. We had Aunt Amy's Beauty Shop where I pulled out all of K-'s nail polish, nail rhinestones, nail stickers, the foot bath, massaging glass marbles and towels. The girls had a good time, even though my niece J- said that her feet had "the wiggles, Aunt Amy." Her paint job looked like she had the wiggles, too!
- The snow plow showed up! :)! It was so nice of them to show up! On a dead end, it is a rare occurrence, so I even took pictures. (Hubs says that I'm worse than a Japanese tourist with my camera.) The plow didn't even make all the swipes up and down the road when the festival of snow blowers were out in full force to free the ends of the driveways so that we could exit without baja-ing over a mountain of snow. Such nice neighbors we have!
- Hubs stayed home from church on Sunday to free our roof of some pretty heavy snow. We had managed to get a 4 foot snow drift on our roof that was growing by leaps and bounds over the gutter and hanging in mid air. Hubs was concerned about all of the weight on both the eaves and gutters, so he stayed home and used a variety of garden tools to remove it. He stopped in at Sears and bought a travel shovel for the car, which seemed to work out best. We've decided to have him leave it in his car, since he has had to dig himself out of a snow bank with a snow scraper. Hooray for Hubs watching out for our house! I knew that the drift was growing and was concerned about it, but didn't know how Hubs would be able to remove the snow. I'm glad that he didn't go up on the roof! I didn't want him to fall off!
We had a good weekend. Seems as though the Chex mix that I bought as Super Bowl munchies gave K- a monster stomach ache, so I have her suited up in case the Chex mix doesn't stay where she put it. Let's hope that the stomach ache is just from the Worcestershire's sauce like Hubs thinks that it is.
Smiles in my weekend:
- Included above.
Have a great day!
ETA:
K- woke up with a little bit of a belly ache, but ate a piece of dry toast and that soaked up whatever was left of the Chex Mix stomach ache problem. She's happily off at school, stomach ache free.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)