Friday, February 25, 2011

A dumb little squeal....and several hours later.

I can't believe it's Friday already, and it's the end of February.

Yesterday, I had an appointment to take my Van in to have a squeal checked out.
The appointment was at 10am and that wasn't a problem to get to. I had my two boys with me, and Thomas was already in his school clothes so we could take him right to school if the van took that long.

Well after arriving at 10am they pulled our car back within a few minutes and by 20 after 10, they came in and let me know what the problem was. (ENTER SHOCKED LOOK) We needed to have the serpentine belt replaced and the pulleys that it sits on, and the tensioners.... and all these parts plus labor were estimated to be around $310.00 to fix. After contacting Chris on the phone to double check if we could go forward and fix this now, he said yes, and the work was under way.

I asked the office guy how long it would probably take, and was told it'd be about an hour and half. No problem. It should be done around noon .. I'll just take the boys over to Carls Jr. across the street and get lunch and let them play.

So off we went to Carl's Jr, to get some lunch. We ate, we played, we got tired and we were there for an hour and half waiting for the call that our van was done. We never got the call, so I told the boys it was time to go and check on the van. So now it's 12:30 and Thomas is now 15 minutes late for Kindergarten, and he's begging to go to school.

I get back to the car shop and find out that they discovered another problem on the same system that needed to be replaced as well. This was going to be an additional $65.00. And with a car that has as many miles as ours and it had never been replaced yet, it was no doubt time for a whole new system.

They didn't have the part right away so they had to order one, and wait for it to be delivered. No telling how long that would have taken. But unfortunately I was waiting in the office when it arrived and it took about a half hour.

But before the part arrived I tried calling my sister in law for a ride but she had all her van seats out and had them replaced by a car load of things she had to take somewhere. So no luck getting all of us in one trip, so I said never-mind, and tried to think of something else I could do. I didn't have anyone's phone numbers on me and didn't have access to a phone book... because lets face it, cell phone numbers aren't listed in there anyway.

The guy had offered to take us, but I declined that option. So the boys and I decided to walk to Amy's house (the sister in law that I called) who lived about a 20 minute walk away. That was after I was told the van would be another hour or more to finish up. So scrap that, I wasn't waiting around anymore. The boys were good sports, and we walked the block where the back of the hospital is, and got to see the helicopter up close. They really liked that.

We were starting to get COLD, so we went into the building and cut our way across to the front side of the block so we didn't have to spend so much time outside. IT really helped. We got nice and warm and then only had to walk outside about as much time as we had already spent walking before we entered the building.

When I got to her house, she was kind enough to let me borrow her van that was loaded down with things other than seats, and drive my son to school. I left Ethan with her while I took Thomas. And Ethan was more then okay with that, seeing how he was getting to play with his cousin Isabella.

Thomas was really nervous about going so late, but luckily he didn't throw a major fit like some of my other kids might have. He was excused on his Tardy, because we had no way to get there before that. Oops. So he was an hour and 15 minutes or so late for school, and he only goes for a few hours a day as it is.

I went back to Amy's house, and stayed there for a while, because what else would I have done....walked back to the car shop and wait? No thank you. So we got to visit for a little while as I waited for the phone call that my car was done.

Then Dan,her brother and my brother in law, showed up to drop something off, and we chatted with him for a few minutes, and before he left my phone started ringing. I was getting hopeful at this point!! And then Dan went out the door to leave while I was on the phone, as the car shop was telling me the car was good to go.

I got off the phone and let Amy know, and said -- I wonder if I can hitch a ride with Dan!! I ran out the door and he was opening his car door, and I asked if he wouldn't mind giving me a ride to where my car was so I wouldn't have to walk again. I left Ethan with Amy, and didn't even get a chance to tell him I was leaving. Oh well.

So now the time is a little after 2pm and I am back at the shop.

Pay for the repairs, get the car and yes.. the noise was completely gone!! Yeah, it worked.

Needless to say I left home a little before 10 am and didn't return home until after I picked up the kids from school a little after 3ish, and was home by 3:30.

A long day. But I can't complain, because I felt well and not sick (because I was sick with a cold a few weeks earlier) and the boys were good sports. However, I was extremely tired by the time I got home, but couldn't go to sleep just yet, I still had one daughter at the school for an after school activity.


PS>>> I am considering myself extremely blessed that I was able to drive my car to the shop rather than having it break down somewhere and having to pay for a tow as well. Because the problems with our car, if we didn't get them repaired, the belt could have snapped off, the pulleys could have popped off, and then the car would just stop moving wherever it was at. That wouldn't have been any good at all. So even though it was a stressful day for me, it could have been worse, and I'm thankful that it wasn't.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

What I've been up to lately...

I've just been dealing with sick kids on and off for the last 4 weeks!! YES, it stinks. But now I think we're over the keeping kids home because of sickness phase. They were all at school yesterday for the WHOLE DAY and to me that is a huge milestone after having one or more home just about every day for the last three weeks.

Lately I've been pretty tired, because I haven't been sleeping well at night. And yesterday was a day to get a nice MORNING NAP in. My boys just watched movies, or played on pbskids.org or they ended up in the room just playing with their toys. They didn't make a mess, they weren't loud ...to the point of not letting me get to sleep. It was perfect!! I couldn't ask for two better boys!!

And I wasn't feeling well last evening, and Chris sent me to the bedroom early so that I could rest and not have to do the regular duties in the evening. And let me tell you... it was NICE!! Thanks honey!!

The last of the regular season basketball games is set for tonight at our school. I'm getting quite excited to see an end in sight now. I've had fun, but I'm slightly burned out on basketball. So it'll be nice in a few weeks to have my afternoons back. And I'm sure the kids will like that too! That I'm home and not gone till dinner time every afternoon.

So I haven't disappeared I just have been busy dealing with kids not feeling well, and I was sick for a week as well. And while Heidi was home sick she lost two of her teeth that were lose. So now she's up to 3 that she has lost.

Crazy deal is her adult tooth was already growing in where one of the baby teeth was at. It was wiggly for A LONG WHILE, but she just never worked on it to get it out. SO I had to pull that one out for her like I did on the first one. With the second tooth she lost in the last week, she was messing with her tooth and she got all surprised because it just came out!! I'm glad she had a painless experience with that one.

We just recently bought an external hard drive, and now I'm excited to clear up space on my computer's hard drive so I can get going on creating scrapbook pages again, and get going on creating the yearbook too! I know.. call me crazy!! I'm used to it.

This is what I've been up to the last little bit, boring, but a record for me to remember.



Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The first of many stories of why I won't make Mother of the Year in 2011....

I think today should go down in the books as recognition as to why I will NOT be making mother of the year this year. See I only made it through January before I lost out, this is so not fair!!

So what did I do?? Well, it was great mostly, I ran to the store earlier to pick a few things up needed to help make our dinner of which I was making extra for my sister in law Amy and her family.

I had the chicken started in the crock pot, so it was done by early afternoon. That was fine. I got my kids to school on time this morning, no problem there.

So I made up three pans of chicken enchiladas one of which was going to my sister in laws family. It took a while to assemble all three pans and get it all ready. I covered all three pans with foil. Still going good.

Gathered the few things that I needed to take with me to drop off at Amy's house for their dinner, and then grabbed Ethan and we left. Got to Amy's house, see that my in laws are there, which happen to be her parents. And they answered the door and Grandpa was holding the baby who is sick. And Amy was up taking a nap. That's fine, she was tired and needed some extra sleep.

So I lay the food on the the counter. And I say bye and leave.

**** Okay, here's where it starts *****

I drive to the school which isn't too far away, but not a straight shot because of a river that I have to drive over. I get to the school and no sign of my kids outside. I think okay. They must be in the gym because that's where they normally meet me at when we have practice. But today I had to take the girls home because they had achievement days. When I discovered that they weren't in the gym waiting for me, I then walk all over the building. No signs of them anywhere. I go to the front desk and have the kids paged to the front. I waited. and waited. Still no kids.

Now this whole time I'm running around I left my sleeping 3 year old in the car in the parking lot. I spent 20 minutes in the school looking for this crazy kids of mine. And then ... the thought hit me!!!

Maybe they are at Amy's house. Since that's where they normally walk to if we don't have practice to go to. So I run to the van jump in, start the car, drive around the blocks to get to her house. Knock on the door and VOILA... my son is answering her door! Relief swept over my body, my kids were all complaining, " What took you so long?" and stuff like, " FINALLY MOM!"

So the time was 3:45 and the girls had achievement days (a program in our church for girls that are 8 - 11 years old) at 4pm. So we had a few minutes to spare. I get home drop of the girls and then Thomas starts complaining because he didn't want to go back to the school for practice. Of which I've missed a lot of today. (Oops-- luckily the other coach was there and taking over)

I run over to my neighbors house and ask if he would hang with the boys for a little while. Ethan was asleep and so we laid him on the bed and covered him up. He went right back to sleep. And Thomas would come over in a few after he changed. So thanks to my neighbor I felt like I had control over the afternoon again.

Definitely not an hour I want to repeat anytime soon. So I must have just missed my kids walking to their aunt's house but I didn't think to look that way, and went the other way instead.

So note to self. ALWAYS CHECK FOR MY KIDS WALKING BEFORE I ASSUME THEY ARE STILL WAITING AT THE SCHOOL.

The kids then had the nerve to tell their dad that I MADE them walk in this COLD weather. Geesh.... I need to go to bed!! But I won't get there for a little longer.