(I seriously love this picture – alas, it’s not mine )
The small, insignificant, day-by-day things that happen in my life.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Newsflash: I like my mother-in-law. I’ve been blessed with one of the few women in the world who will give me my space, but be there when I need her, who has a sense of humor, but doesn’t take me too seriously, who is a constant presence in our lives without being a pest (most of the time. *wink*). She was an absolute rock for me when Kevin had his motorcycle accident in April.
I was fond of her before the accident; I think the world of her now after the accident.
Today was her birthday.
The woman is in her upper 60’s, but looks like she’s in her 50’s. Her and my father-in-law stay incredibly active (in fact, I honestly can’t keep up with the woman – she left me in the dust those two weeks we lived in the hospital in Columbia to take care of my husband – she often times kept watch while I tried to catch up on a few ZzzZz’s), and as a result, they both get around like they’re in their 50’s.
It’s very inspiring to watch them and to be around them. (And a lesson for all us, stay active, stay young!)
Kevin and I bought her a gift card to the JCPenney Home Store because she loves to shop for her home. We had only planned on dropping by her house and giving her the card and gift, but we ended up staying an hour because one of my sisters-in-law and her family had driven up minutes before we had, then my other sister-in-law drove up a little while later – so it ended up being an impromptu family get together.
One of the reasons I like my in-law family so much is because they make an effort to include me in their conversation. I ended up sitting on the sofa, by myself, while the rest of the family sat in a semi-circle in front of me. I didn’t even think of me being off by myself until my mother-in-law made a joke of it – we all laughed, they started asking me questions, I responded, we laughed some more … it was nice.
I can honestly say that I feel like a part of their family. They’ve been very warm to me and truly are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
I know it’s not exactly “cool” to admit that you like your in-laws, but well, since when have I been cool?
Exactly.
We were on the verge of leaving, when my sister-in-law asked if they could come over. I had asked her opinion about what we should do about our living room/dining room because we want to rip the carpets out and put in hardwood floors and we honestly have no idea if we want to go dark, or light – we already have so much oak furniture in the rooms that we don’t want to match it exactly, that would just look weird, in my opinion.
Since I’m about the furthest thing from being a Susie Homemaker, I asked my sister-in-law because oh my gosh, you should see her house. It’s gorgeous!! And I love her taste. She also has a knack of finding the best deals on things so I trust her.
They came over and we talked about possibilities for about twenty minutes. She is actually going to make a trip up to Lowe’s to see if she can get some ideas for us.
I think that’s about the sweetest thing ever. I can’t believe she’s going to go out of her way like that, but she says she really enjoys decorating (I tease her about going into business, but I’m actually quite serious) and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.
Now my next question is, how in the world can I compensate her for her time and talents?? Any ideas?
Monday, August 30, 2010
Took Jazz to the orthodontist today. He’s had braces … for about a year now. I know he got them last year, and I know he started school without them, so that must mean he got them in September sometime.
Being precise is too exhausting.
He’s doing well with them. He didn’t handle them as well as Dude, and I knew he wouldn’t. Jazz doesn’t tolerant pain/discomfort as well as Dude does. Jazz’s teeth weren’t that bad, to look at him. But after examining the mold they did of his mouth, his teeth were actually pretty bad. Jazz’s biggest problem is his overbite. If you look at his profile, you can see where his upper lip pushes forward over his teeth. I don’t think he’ll have to wear them as long as Dude, but he’ll have to wear them most of his high school years.
I make a point of making sure he doesn’t have any sort of adjustment appointments in October – he has competitions every week and I think it would be rather mean to make him endure mouth pain while he’s trying to play his saxophone and perform. I’m always very conscious about when next appointments are scheduled – at all times. I wouldn’t want the boys to feel bad over the holidays or their birthdays, either. That either makes me a really good mom, or a really anal mom. Maybe both.
Kevin and I went and looked at the leather sofa / loveseat we have our eye on again last night. I was thinking it was more of a dove color when in fact, it’s more a khaki color. I actually prefer the khaki color as I think that might go better in our room, anyway. I think we’ve decided on a dark floor, like walnut dark, but nothing is set in stone at this point. If we buy the khaki sofa set, we’ll have to repaint our walls – they’re currently khaki. It’s always something, isn’t it?
We also can’t find a leather sleeper sofa that we like. I would like a sleeper because I don’t sleep with Kevin – we have determined, after years of not sleeping that we don’t sleep well with EACH OTHER. And when we get sleep, we’re less likely to argue or get on each other’s nerves … so it works out. If we can’t find a leather sleeper (because Kevin really has his heart set on leather), then I’ll have to sleep on an air mattress again. Which is fine, actually, it’s really comfortable, but it makes Kevin feel bad. Which … might not be a bad thing, actually. Lol
Ragweed is on the rise. Which means my eyes are constantly watering. I’m also feeling REALLY tired and run down and it’s really an effort for me to get motivated to do anything. This time of year would be perfect, if I could just get used to the ragweed.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
My day started off with a bang – no literally, I woke to a clap of thunder. By the time it was time to take the boys to school, it was pouring. And it’s continued to pour all day. In fact, I just heard on the radio that we broke a record – three inches. And I heard that about three hours ago.
It’s still raining. And according to radar, it’s sticking around most of the night.
I got back from dropping the boys off at school to learn that Kevin had listed our sofa and love seat on Craig’s List. We had agreed we would buy a new sofa set, but I didn’t realize he was going to list it so soon. Not fifteen minutes after listing it, we got a phone call – the woman wanted to come out today to take a look at them, and if she liked them, would pick them up on Friday (when the weather was nicer).
While we were waiting for this woman to arrive, we noticed that our crawl space was starting to fill up with water. This is a common problem with us as our house is sort of on a slope, so we get a lot of run off. When it rains really hard for an extended period of time (like today), our sump pump just can’t keep up. In addition, a pipe had come loose on it so it wasn’t pumping any water out.
Kevin actually crawled (but more like swam) over to the sump pump and fixed it. It started gushing out water and was working fine for about 20 minutes, when the stupid pipe came loose again. He was getting ready to crawl back under the house when our lady and her husband arrived to look at our sofa set.
They took one look, sat down for ten seconds and decided they wanted it – right then. It was POURING outside, but that didn’t deter them from loading the pieces up. I’m sure they got quite soaked in the process. Kevin and I couldn’t figure out why she just didn’t come back on a nice day. I just hope they didn’t ruin them.
After they left, Kevin suggested we go to Lowe’s and buy another sump pump, place it in the opening to the crawl space, run a hose out of our back door, through the garage and pump the water out that way. Then he wouldn’t have to crawl back under the house and if the thing started acting up, it would be right there.
He could also use the second sump pump to use with the french drain that he wants to install on the north side of our house (because it’s currently a lake on that side of the house, which is not helping the water situation in our crawl space).
So, we bought the pump, he installed it and it’s currently pumping water out of our crawl space.
Here’s a picture:
1. Out of the crawl space. 2. Out the back door. 3. Through the garage.
It doesn’t pump out water as hard as the other sump pump, but we figure it should pump out most of it by the morning. IF it ever stops raining, that is.
Our living room is HUGE without our sofa set. Kevin is thinking we should just buy a sofa and nix the love seat … but, I like love seats, so we’ll see.
In the meantime, we have our lawn chairs.
I love Oh life because they send you an email at 8:00 p.m. every night asking you how your day went. You reply to the email and it automatically posts to your Oh Life account.
These entries are raw, immediate and from the heart. You can expect to see these updates every Wednesday and Sunday (or thereabouts)
Thanks for reading.
Write From Karen 