Ok, not that big of a deal. I've fixed many a toilet. Growing up, I was the oldest and the only female cousin (my sisters are step-sisters and they didn't hang out with my cousins or live with us). So, the mechanical, fixer-upper type jobs are really no big deal.
But, with the way my luck has been running lately, let's just say that this was a major success.
I currently own 3 cars. Can't afford to have the 1 I drive, but I have 3 nonetheless. The latest one to grace my driveway was given to us by my brother. He was needing to get rid of it and we were needing to replace my daughter's car. Good reliable car until I finished getting the paperwork done to transfer ownership. The title arrived last week. The car has been in the shop 3 times and currently is in the shop awaiting a computer panel that is going to cost $80 from a salvage yard (they aren't sure if it's the right panel). If we go rebuilt, then it's going to be $300 ... new is $400. The mechanic has a habit of making me feel like his work is worth more than the vehicle I have him work on, which is probably true. He told me if we have to go rebuilt or new, then I might as well total the car and get a new one.
To top it off, my finances are going down the drain. I received my tax return, over $4,000, and it's not enough. I'm still $600 short of paying my insurance for the year (which I can't afford to pay monthly). Where I'm going to come up with the money to fix the cars, is another issue. On top of that, I have the trip in July.
T and I talked last night. She's going to start looking for a job for the summer. She's a good, reliable person and no one is willing to give her a break. But, if she gets one, then she can start saving for a car and insurance. That will help out a lot. Plus, she has her senior expenses next year.
My mom and step-dad's anniversary is today ... and they are both down with this crud that my family has had for the past couple of weeks. Ours hit us hard this weekend, but waited until today to hit them hard. I may take off early to relieve me mom of the kids. Happy 25th Anniversary, mom ... this wasn't the present I was planning on giving you this year. Sorry.
And I keep telling myself, "Just put it in the Lord's hands, it will all come out ok."
The good news is that I did buy a new large capacity washer/dryer stackable. No more going to the laundrymat and spending on average $30 a week! That puppy will have paid itself back in 32-35 weeks (depending on how much it ups my water bill). I'm just excited to have a working set in the house. AND it's big enough to take my comforter and another blanket. I managed to do 5 loads in something like 4 1/2 hours. AND because it's a stackable, I'm putting a cabinet in the other spot to put my tools and the paint buckets and all the household repairing stuff in.
One of these days, I'll have a clean, organized house.
The last few months have been so busy and have gone so fast. We've gotten a lot done, but not as much as I had hoped. I've taken a break from the online life. But, I am working my way back in, though not in the same aspect as I was before.
S will be 12 this Sunday. At 5'5", she's one of the tallest 6th graders in the school. She has always tried to keep up with her 2 older sisters, so she's been a teenager for a year now even though technically she won't be one for another year. She's growing up so fast.
J is sick. He tells me that he's my sicky boy and then he chases his sisters around trying to cough on them. He's ornery.
My brother is having surgery to try and correct a problem with his eyes caused by an eye disease that he has. He was supposed to have the outpatient surgery done this past Monday. But his insurance decided that since it's a cornea transplant, he has to have it done in the hospital. So, it was bumped up to sometime in the first of February. Gotta love the insurance companies.
Work is wild still. They shut down my overtime and upped the work load. In the past 3 weeks, I've received the same amount of work as I did for the last 2 months of 2005. Fun, fun, fun.
Well, speaking of ... lunch is over. You can wake up, I'm done. Have a great day!
This morning, we woke up to a thick blanket of snow, a 6-7" layer on the cars and ground. I opened the front door to find that it had piled up 2" above the bottom of the doorway, which is a good 4" above the front porch. The broom that I keep outside for the frontporch was used to brush off the cars this morning.
It was the fluffy, wet snow that is good for snowball packing. But, we were running late this morning, so didn't get a snowball fight going like we usually do.
Even though we live just off a highway, we found the roads had not been cleared enough yet. Very strange since I know that KDOT is usually very good about working through the night when weather happens like this.
We slipped and slid through the sludge that was forming from morning traffic and drove the 15 miles to the next town where my kids go to school. We live further east than the rest of the metro area and it turned out that we had been hit with more than they did. From about a mile east of where my kids go to school and on west, it had only snowed a trace to 2". Driving went a little bit faster. And I was only 10 minutes late for work.
The funny thing is that this weekend we had record breaking high temperatures. And because we have had nice weather and no moisture for weeks, the ground has already soaked up the snow around where I work. It's almost all gone (don't know about home yet though).
Tonight, T and S are being honored at half time at a basketball game for their excellent test scores on a national school test. I'm excited for them.
Was listening to the radio at lunch and they recited the poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer, which reminded me of a childhood memory.
When I was young, before my grandfather retired, we would make trips to the "The Farm" which was a 200 acre farm out in the middle of nowhere. "The Farm" had been owned by Mr. McDonald and my grandfather had bought it the year I was born when old McDonald died (I kid you not). In the 12 years between buying it and retiring, he installed a water and sewer system, built a new garage, remodelled part of the house to include a laundry room and bathroom (cringes at the memory of having to use an outhouse), and put in a woodburning stove.
The closest neighbor was up the hill 1/2 mile away. An older lady lived alone up there, and we would walk the gravel road with my grandparents to her house every once in a while. She had this huge swingset made of metal pipe. And while my grandparents would do repairs around her house for her, she would entertain my younger brother and I by pushing us on that swing. While she did this, she would recite the poem "The Swing" and swung us high.
The Swing by Robert Lewis Stevenson
How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall, Till I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle and all Over the countryside---
Till I look down on the garden green, Down on the roof so brown--- Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air and down!
Every once in awhile, my boss shows us that he does have a sense of humor that IS funny and sends out something that he received. I'm sure that this can apply to just about any state, area, or country. Plug in your own whatever and see if it applies. For me, it's Kansas.
If you're proud that your region makes the national news at least 96 times each year because it's the hottest or the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Kansas.
If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Kansas.
I have the farmers tan on my arms, sortof ... the tan has faded, but the freckles abound.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Kansas.
If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Kansas.
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Kansas.
Would you believe I got a date one time this way?
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE Kansan WHEN "Vacation" means going east or west on I-70 for the weekend.
You measure distance in hours, you might live in Kansas. (very true)
It's 2 1/2 hours to Manhattan, Kansas from here. And 3 1/2 - 4 hours to KC, depending on construction on the Turnpike. Work is 35 minutes away if I drive straight there ... dropping off kids, it's more like 45 minutes if my mom and I don't talk too much when I drop off J.
You know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you might live in Kansas.
If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again, you might live in Kansas.
You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in Kansas.
And you wonder why we laugh when people freak out over 6" of snow.
You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings), you might live in Kansas.
I have yet to be at a wedding where there was camouflage. Though, cowboy hats and boots are definitely seen.
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both doors unlocked, you might live in Kansas.
You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them, you might live in Kansas.
Shouldn't everyone know how to use jumper cables? Or change their own oil? And when you go get new tires, you make sure that you ask them to hand tighten them on. You never know when you're going to have to change a tire. You look awfully funny when you're only 5'4", in heals, jumping up and down on a 4-way tire iron trying to get the lugnuts loose because they machine tightened it.
You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in Kansas.
You're just plain stupid if you don't.
Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you might live in Kansas.
You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you might live in Kansas.
Well, this is not true. Road construction season starts about mid-February to early-March and doesn't end until late-October to mid-November. It's more like winter, tornado/floods, summer, floods/tornado. But, this one may be more geared towards Western Kansas ... and that's a whole nuther world.
Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce, you might live in Kansas.
You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.., you might live in Kansas.
But, you are very aware that if you don't plan ahead, you have to travel the 1/2 hour distance to Oklahoma on Sunday if you run out.
If a brat is something you eat, you might live in Kansas.
Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed, you might live in Kansas.
If your idea of going out to eat is a tail gate party every Friday, you might live in Kansas.
You have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you might live in Goodland, Kansas.
If you find 0 degrees to be "a little chilly", you might live in Kansas.
Some people make fun of the preps, but I think that it is cool! You are probally pretty, popular AND know how to have fun! Preps like being with their friends, going to games, school dances and pep rallies.
Have a great day!
