When it Rains

Saturday, while trying to make these:

 This went out, which wouldn't be a bad thing excepts that we just got this microwave a year ago

and so we had to make our lunch in the oven. It is easy to take the convenience of a microwave for granted until you don't have one to use anymore. 

 Then we got the news that our septic system no longer passes inspection and the Health Dept. has given us a month to fix it - to the tune of $5000.

The last wind storm we had (and we've been having a lot of them) blew down a bunch of big branches off the trees.  The problem?  Lots and lots of dead branches in all of our trees, and some dead trees.  The fix?  Have the dead trees cut down, cost $1800.  And have the other trees pruned to clear out the dead branches, cost $2500. 

New expensive water heater that is not new enough to still be under warranty.  What happened to it? you might ask.  Well, I will tell you.  Remember when we lost power because the line to our house broke?  The "break" caused a power surge in our house that fried the thermostat on the water heater.  So now we have hot water whenever the water heater feels like working and cold water when it decides not to.

We understand that home ownership comes with issues, however when we add these new issues to the ones we have already had to fix, or need to fix things that have already been fixed, it becomes frustrating.  A/C work; roof work; rebuilding a basement that flooded because of a previous hot water tank and poor drainage; deck work; previous removal of dead trees; switching from well to city water;  electrical work;  and then the whole list of small problems we've dealt with. 

Add all of that to a house that is now $65,000 underwater and you end up with a big case of AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH. 

So, how is your Monday going?

Girls Sleepover

Last night/this morning was the Mpact girls sleepover at our church.  Being a teacher I was asked to help out with it.  Hannah also went to it as it was for K-6th grades.  We showed up at 6:45 last night and we didn't stop until about 2:00 am this morning.  Then I was up again at 6:30 to help get breakfast ready and the room cleaned up.  Hannah got to "sleep in" until 8:00.  While it was a lot of fun, it was also a long night. 
The theme was Hawaiian Beach Day so the girls got to do lots of crafts and games related to that.

There was flip flop decorating which just happened to be my station

followed by Mani-Pedi's

Frisbee Golf since you can't really play golf at the beach.

The girls were a little confused about how to play the game.

And lots of games with the parachute - always a favorite

They also got to decorate a frame with paint and seashells

Build sandcastles out of cups

This was Hannah's teams sandcastle.  They won the competition for best sandcastle

Then there were pictures with a Hawaiian background

Dinner consisted of hot dogs and chips. Not really a beachy dinner but it was easy

And the most anticipated event of the night.  A trip to the boys bathroom. 

Finally it was time to settle in with popcorn and ice cream to watch a movie. There were more games and crafts such as jewelry making, a limbo competition, book readings, and beach volleyball but being busy with the craft table I didn't always get a chance to snap a picture.

Meanwhile, at home, Robbie spent a quiet evening with the girls and dogs.  He missed all the fun but for some reason he didn't mind.

Some of the things I love

Sunsets

Watching the moon go down in the morning

The last rays of sunrise

Watching squirrels play

No snow in the middle of January

(Sorry Tacoma.  I feel for you, I really do)

Hot Chocolate in my favorite Eeyore cup

Seeing my daughter

Watching my girl enjoy reading

Red appliances

Looking at mini-me sleeping

Games

Puzzles

Books

The bond between my kids and my pets

The soft fur and stinky breath of my baby

My favorite perfume

Candles

Green plants growing in winter

The best movie line in my favorite movie

"Your life is an occasion - rise to it."

Babies

Music boxes

Reading my bible

My hubby

My story about Saturday

Saturday we took the kids to the Detroit Institute of Art to see the special "Faces of Jesus" exhibit by Rembrandt they have open right now.

 

At first we were all excited to be there.  We started out by looking at some of the other exhibits they had while we were waiting for our tour time.



Finally, it was time to go see Rembrandt's pictures of Jesus.  Right in the middle of the tour I became quite ill and we ended up having to leave it.  We thought that maybe I was just hungry so we headed back to the car to eat our lunch that we had brought with us.

I was feeling better after lunch so we headed back inside to explore the rest of the building.

We were all happy again and saw some paintings from different artists.

Right in the middle of our exploring I became violently ill again and had to keep running to the bathroom.  Luckily, there was no waiting in line or they would have had a new, unwanted exhibit.  The kids were good sports about it though.

So we just went home.

The end.